Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons
by MissRainicorn
Summary: This is about four people who met by chance. They don't seem to work out quite well together, but they have things in common. They have fates they wish to avoid, things they wish to change, and evil they have to fight. They also share a love for sarcasm, arguing and pranks. And dragons too. This is how four Guardians rose... sort of. Rated T for later events. Jackunzel/Mericcup
1. Prologue

**_EDIT: Omg I totally forgot to mention something important. This fanfic was inspired (as you may notice in some parts) by a video in Youtube, a fanmade trailer for the "Rise of the Brave Tangled Dragons" movie. It's really funny and I recommend you all go watch it here: /watch?v=T2K3zCXRBZg (write youtube dot com right before and you got it!)_**

**_Oh hi!_**

**_This is the first fanfic I'm publishing. I'm so excited about it! This is just a prologue, however. I have some chapters already written and ready, so keeping a good uploading pace shouldn't be a problem. The first chapter will be up soon!_**

**_Anyway, I wanted to make a note before the actual story begins. I used a translator for Merida's scottish accent, but I changed some words and expressions I thought maybe would be hard to understand for the readers, just to make it easier. Also, I'm not a native English speaker, so if you see any grammar mistakes feel free to point them out! Constructive criticism is appreciated, too._**

**_Thank you for taking the time to read me! 3 Now, onto the prologue-ish thingy..._**

_Some say our destiny is tied tae the land, as much a part of us as we ur of it. Others say fate is woven together like a cloth, sae that one's destiny intertwines wi' mony others…_

"What?" a boy laughed. "No, no."

"Jack, shut up!"

"I thought you didn't believe in fate."

"Ah don't! Ah was jest beginnin' tae tell a story! PROLOGUE! Does 'at word rin' a bell tae ye!?"

"Well that's one crappy prologue you got there."

"Why ye wee…"

Seemed like a fight was heading on, but it fortunately was interrupted by another girl.

"Please stop fighting!"

"He started it!" the first girl accused.

"I don't care who started it, just stop! You're going to make a mess out of this!"

"Oh, Punz, you're no fun" the boy pouted.

"Merida, you can beat the crap out of him later" a different boy sighed. "People here are kind of expecting a story, you know."

"Reit!" the girl called Merida cleared her throat and shot a glare at Jack, who was making fun of her by putting on weird faces. "Noo, if Jack wood let me begin, Aam sure people haur wood like tae hear our story…"

"Why would they want to? It's not like it's an exciting, extraordinary and fun beyond belief adventure to hear…"

"Let her speak, Jack."

"Thenk ye, Rapunzel. Ah wooldnae want tae beat him up right haur. Thaur might be sensitife people aroond."

"I'm sure that people would enjoy it if you actually got onto the story…"

"Don't get me started on ye, Hiccup! If ye want tae tell it yerself, go ahead an' dae it!"

"I wasn't criticizing your ways, Mer, I just think people are getting tired of arguing and…"

"Well screw them! Ah will argue all Ah want!"

"Come on, Merida, can't even take a little criticism? My, my, what an awful story teller…"

"Jack!" the girl named Rapunzel drew out a frying pan and hit him with it.

"Ow! What's that for!?"

"It was for you to shut up! Merida doesn't need anyone to tick off her temper!"

"Well, if we're all going to keep arguing I'll simply head out and…"

"Nae! Yoo're stayin'!"

"BUT WHY!?"

"Coz Ah want ye tae that's why!"

"Ah, lovebirds…"

"Jack, I'm warning you, you don't want me to hit a second time."

"Oh come on Punz! Don't tell me you're not having fu… No, no, get that thing away from me, I didn't say anything!"

"Merida, I don't see why we have to keep these people waiting…"

"SHUT UP HICCUP! If ye want tae, tell them yerself! Ah give up!"

"Great, now the fault is mine…?"

Ahem. Well, since they don't seem much in the mood for story telling anymore… I should tell you myself, because this is a tale worth to be told. This story is precisely about these four people we've just met, about how they overcame the obstacles, learned to trust on themselves and on each other, about the fates they wanted so badly to avoid and about the true evil they had to confront. They found love on the way, too. Also it is about dragons. And magic. And fun. And epicness. You people like those kinds of things yeah?

Well then, this is a story about how four Guardians rose… uh, sort of.


	2. Chapter 1: Guardians

_**So, here's the first chapter! :D**_

_**To scythe657, my first reviewer ever: thank you for reading and reviewing! And oh, I know, Jack really is annoying at times. But deep down he's a sweetheart!**_

_**Anyway, I hope you'll like this one. Enjoy!**_

No matter how much he tried, Sandman just couldn't make them see what was happening in front of their very eyes. The Guardian of Dreams was beginning to get really angry, and that was not something that happened quite often. The Moon was trying to tell them something and they were too busy arguing to even notice! How pitiful is that for Guardians? Suddenly, he got a better idea upon seeing one of North's elves passing nearby. Grabbing his hat, Sandy furiously shook it for its little bell to make a noticeable noise. As expected, all the Guardians turned to look at him, surprised by the sound. He let go of the elf, which fell straight to the ground, and angrily made a Moon out of sand and pointed at it, motioning for them to look at the actual Moon.

"Ah, Man in Moon!", North greeted, and turning to Sandy, added "Oh, Sandy, why didn't you say something?"

At that moment, Sandman was thankful he couldn't talk, because what he wanted to say was certainly not nice. He puffed out his cheeks and sand came erupting out of his ears to show his anger, but at that moment, the Moon was more important.

"It's been a long time, old friend! What is big news?"

In response, the Moon made a shadow appear on the ground. A shadow with a shape that all of them knew too well.

"It is Pitch" Bunnymund said, and North patted his belly, showing how his gut feeling was right.

"Manny, what must we do?"

The moonlight concentrated right over the circle on the ground that had a G carved on it, and it opened to show a big, very shiny crystal that reflected the light beautifully.

"Eh, guys, you know what this means?" Tooth asked in confusion.

"He's chosen a new Guardian!" North exclaimed, his eyes wide open.

"What!? Why?" Bunnymund exclaimed in disbelief.

"Must be big deal. Manny thinks we need help."

"Since when do we need help?" Bunny replied with a sort of ironic smile.

"I wonder who it's gonna be!" Toothiana smiled in excitement, and Sandy made a four leaf clover out of sand, a reference she understood. "Maybe the Leprechaun?"

"Please not the Groundhog, please not the Groundhog…" Bunnymund begged in a mutter.

Slowly, a holographic image started forming above the crystal as North wiggled his fingers in excitement. But seeing who the image represented, his expression changed to one of… bewilderment.

"Jack Frost", he announced, just as surprised as the others were. A few of Tooth's fairies let out little squeals of delight, and one of them even fainted at the mention of the very handsome winter spirit.

"Uh, I take it back, the Groundhog's fine" Bunnymund raised his paws.

"Wha-" Toothiana awoke from her own daydreaming "A-a-as long as he helps to, to protect the children, right?" she smiled apologetically.

"Jack Frost!? He doesn't care about children! All he does is freeze water ponds and… mess with my egghunts! He's an irresponsible, selfish…"

"… Guardian" North finished with a small smile.

But then, something unexpected happened. Jack Frost's image changed over to another completely different person. The Guardians could only stare as the image of a young girl with an extremely long hair appeared. Her hair was undescribably long, she was wearing a dress, had a sort of lizard up on her shoulder and she was barefoot.

"What… is going on?" Bunny asked; he looked like he wanted to add something, but he was too astounded to add anything else.

"It… would seem like Manny has chosen more than one" North muttered, still unable to believe it himself. "Am I right, Manny?"

Man in Moon, as to confirm it, made the image change once again. This time it was a boy, tall and skinny, dressed in what looked like Viking clothing. He was accompanied by an enormous winged creature, something that North could recognize as a dragon, which the boy was playfully patting on the head.

"But… why?" Tooth made the obvious question. "Is it really… that big of a deal?"

"Seems that way" North nodded, and he was about to add something, but he was interrupted by yet another change on the image.

Another girl appeared before them, this one pretty short in height, but her extremely wild and messy hair made up for it. She was wearing a long dress, carried a bow and arrows that she held with great confidence, and was riding a horse that seemed way too big for her size. And then, the light vanished, and the crystal disappeared underground again.

The moonlight pinpointed four locations in the world's map to show the Guardians where they'd be able to find the people Man in the Moon had just shown them, and then any presence of the Man simply vanished, as fast as he appeared. The Guardians were left there, too dumbfounded for words; they simply didn't know how to react, or what was to be done after that. Toothiana was feeling a mixture of nervousness and excitement that made her unable to think anything straight; Bunnymund ran his paws through his head, stroking his ears repeatedly out of pure confusion; and Sandman, well, he just sat and watched as the situation developed, for he knew he was too amazed to be able to do anything. The three of them looked at North in seek of advice; he, as the Guardian of Wonder he was, was the first on regaining his composure after what they had just witnessed. Clearing his throat, he declared:

"Well, I guess there's only one thing we can do."

"And that is?" Bunny asked, looking like he was hoping for all of it to be a dream he'd soon wake up from.

"Find them!"

"WHAT!?" Tooth and Bunnymund yelled in unison as Sandy jumped and his face expressed that very word accurately.

"Man in Moon wants us to find them, we do!" North stated, crossing his arms in complete decision. "There's no turning back on it! They've been chosen!"

"But… they're so many…" Tooth mumbled, nervously flying around, so quickly it seemed she could teleport. "A Guardian hasn't been chosen in thousand of years… and it's the first time _ever_ that so many are chosen at once!"

"I know, Tooth, I know" North reassured her by putting a hand on her back. "But Man in Moon has his reasons, I'm sure of it. And there's not much we can do but follow his lead, is there?" Toothiana hesitated, but finally nodded, followed by slow nods from Bunny and Sandy. North was right. No matter how confusing or frightening this may have been, there was only one thing they could do, and it was continuing forward. The chosen ones needed to be found.

"We don't even know their names. Well, of three of them" Toothiana said, sadly. "They're so young. And they're not even immortal, otherwise we would've heard of them before, like we have of Jack."

"Or maybe not" Bunnymund replied, followed by Sandman's nods. "Maybe they're immortal and we just don't know about them. And regardless of that, when one swears to be a Guardian, the gift of immortality is automatically given. I don't think that'll be a problem. What will be a problem is… getting to them."

"We have a sleigh" North reminded him.

"Yeah… a sleigh" Bunny's mouth fretched in disgust. "You know how I hate that thing. Besides, that's not what I meant. I know we can go and get them in two seconds with your portals. What I meant is that the real trouble will be explaining to them… what they've been chosen for. Except for Jack. I wouldn't give a damn about him."

"We all know you wouldn't" North laughed, patting Bunny's back. "Say, how about you go get Jack with your tunnels and I go get the rest with my sleigh? You can take the yetis with you and toss him in a portal. It'll be faster."

"Oh, is that so? Then I'll be back very soon" Bunnymund replied with a devilish smirk. "It's best if you go get just one of them and come back here to get the brat once you're done, so you can take both of them with you to fetch the rest. It'll be easier to explain them all at once."

North laughed, but agreed. Bunnymund was fast enough with his tunnels, and adding the yetis and the portal to that, he should be back in the blink of an eye. That's why North set out before him, hurrying his sleigh to be back as fast as possible; it'd take long enough to convince them to go with him without using more forceful methods. Why wouldn't he use the same method with all the others as he did with Jack? Well, the others had absolutely no idea what a Guardian was and they were not to blame for being chosen, it was only polite to explain things out to them. Besides… Jack had a honorific place on the naughty list.


	3. Chapter 2: Flower

_**Hello everyone! I decided that uploading day shall be Saturday. Why? Because it's when I have more spare time to do it. So yeah, today's Saturday (at least in my time zone e_e) and here you have the second chapter :D**_

_**I'd like to thank all of you who left reviews and all of you who follow/favorite this story. I'm bummed that you actually like what I write! So yeah, I hope you like this one!**_

Not knowing which of the three children to go for, North opted for the one that seemed to be the closest to his current location. It was a kingdom by the name Corona, a land known for its exceptional weather, almost always sunny, and its dearly beloved king and queen, who had recently lost a daughter in a very tragical way. North didn't know exactly what happened with her, but he did know that every year millions of lanterns were set out on her birthday by everyone in the capital, as a reminder of the deceased princess. He sighed sadly, wondering why did so many kids have to die so young, and shaking his head, he rushed his reindeers forward. He set a portal to take him to the exact location Manny had indicated, and when going through it, he appeared in sort of a hidden valley among mountains. There was a waterfall flowing down one of them, which formed a lake, and there was grass and flowers and a few trees surrounding a very high tower. What a strange place, he thought. Upon closer examination, he noticed the tower had a door, but it was thoroughly blocked, and that the only way to access the valley without flying or teleporting abilities was through a cavern hidden with leaves that blended in with the environment. Whoever was here was clearly trapped. Now, he had to find a way to get inside the tower, preferably without using a portal because he only had brought two, one to take him there and other to take him back.

Rapunzel huffed as she finally finished brushing the last strand of her seventy feet long hair. She glanced at the small chameleon that was waiting for her over a table, almost falling asleep.

"Hey, Pascal" she tapped the chameleon's head with her finger. "I'm finished! What do you want to do now? Wanna play hide and seek?"

The chameleon glared her skeptically. He was indeed surprisingly expressive for a chameleon. It rushed over to the open window and pointed to the outside with its tail, invitingly.

"Oh, no, we've gone through that already a thousand times" Rapunzel rolled her eyes and, catching Pascal by its tail, she dragged him away from the window and dropped him on her hand. "Pascal, you know I can't go outside. It's… it's too frightening. You know about my powers. What if someone tries to steal them? Or… what if the Boogeyman comes!?" Pascal rolled his eyes with a skeptical grin. "Don't laugh! I've read about him in books! Well, the thing is, here I am safe. I'm… I'm too scared to leave, Pascal. Even though leading the same life every single day is extremely boring and tedious… Whenever I think of leaving, I just… can't."

Pascal sighed, climbed on her shoulder and patted her face with his small paw, knowingly.

"I know you understand" Rapunzel smiled in relief. "Now, what should we d-" she was interrupted by a knock coming from the window, and a huge bearded man was there. Smiling at her. Flying.

Rapunzel screamed in fear as she ran to a counter and grabbed the first thing she could get, which happened to be a frying pan, and pointed at the man with it with her trembling hands, screaming.

"THE BOOGEYMAN!" she screamed, almost crying from shock as the man got inside her tower, motioning his hands in a calming gesture.

"P-please don't be afraid! I am no Boogeyman, lady! I can promise you, I am not here to hurt you in any possible way! See, I didn't bring any weapon… I don't have any dark powers… now, if you'd please put down that frying…" CLANG. As the man fell unconscious from the hit, Rapunzel yelped and ran to a corner. However, she noticed he was not moving, and very slowly approached him. She used the handle of her pan to poke his face for a while.

"He doesn't look like the Boogeyman" she said thoughtfully. "He actually looks more like Santa Claus."

"Ooooh… for the love of candy canes…" North groaned as he slowly began getting up. "You're not going to hit me again, are you…? Because if so I'll save you the work and stay on the ground."

Rapunzel was satisfied to hear that, because that meant she could defend herself.

"You can get up" she declared, pointing her frying pan at him in a magnanimous gesture. "But don't you dare trying to do anything suspicious!"

"I wouldn't" North muttered, rubbing his head. He finally got a chance to look around him, and saw all the paintings in the walls. They were _everywhere_. There was no blank space to be seen as far as his eyes could see. And they were amazingly creative. Especially one placed right above the fireplace. It looked like it had been painted recently, and North approached to get a better sight of it.

"Did you paint all of this?" he asked in amazement. Rapunzel nodded, still unsure whether the intentions of this man were good or bad.

"But I should be the one asking the questions here!" she protested, crossing her arms. "Who are you? And how did you find me?"

"Oh, you're right. My name is North" he smiled at her and added ", but you may know me best as Santa Claus."

"What?" Rapunzel's eyes widened in shock. "You're Santa? REALLY?" Suddenly, she cleared her throat and tried to put on a serious expression, pointing her frying pan at him again. "Ahem, but if that is so, then… prove it! If you really are Santa Claus, then you can answer this. What did you bring me last year?"

"Well, dear, I can't remember all the names of the kids I bring presents to, as you may understand. They're millions" North laughed. "But if you tell me your name, I'm sure I will remember."

She hesitated for a moment, but she decided it was only logical after all, with so many kids. "Rapunzel."

"Ah, but of course! You were the one who asked for so many different kinds of paint!" North couldn't help his outburst of laughter. "Took me a while to bring all those colours down the chimney…"

Rapunzel's face brightened incredibly with her great smile. "You really ARE Santa! Oh my GOD! I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! PASCAL, IT'S SANTA CLAUS!" The chameleon nodded repeatedly, just as amazed as she was. "But how'd you get in here through the window!? How did you…!?"

"Please call me North. That's my real name." North smiled. "And, as you just saw, I came through the window. I have a flying sleigh, you know. Hearing that, Rapunzel squealed and quickly went for the window to check outside. And outside was, certainly, a good number of reindeers with a sleigh attached to it. Rapunzel squealed again in amazement. He _really_ was Santa!

"But… but why are you here? It's not Christmas yet! Well, as far as I know…" she doubted, glancing outside to check the weather. Nope, it was sunny and warm, there was no way it could be Christmas already.

"No, no, of course it's not Christmas" North laughed, and then got more serious. "I'm here for a completely different reason, Rapunzel."

"Huh?" she didn't quite understand. What could Santa Claus possibly want of her? "Um… you want me to help you make the toys?"

North snorted, trying not to burst into laughter again. "No, no, that's not it either. Allow me to explain…"

As North's explanations went on, Rapunzel's eyes widened more and more to what would be an impossible extent for someone whose eyes weren't as big as hers. North taught her about the Guardians, immortal, magical creatures with magical powers that helped them bring joy and dreams to the children. Saying she was amazed was inaccurate to express how she was feeling right then. What she was hearing was unbelievable, but so was the sleigh that she had just seen, so was the fact that Santa Claus had entered her tower through a window, and she had believed that without hesitation. Why wouldn't she believe what he was telling her right now? Why would Santa lie to her, right?

"I… I thought I was the only one" she muttered, smiling gleefully.

"The only one? What do you mean?"

"I… I've been here for many, many years now" she explained, hesitating because she was afraid of his reaction. "I've noticed that the landscape around me changes. Everything changes with time. Even Pascal. But I don't. I'm still exactly the same as I was the first day I woke up in here. I don't even need to eat, nor do I need to sleep… my hair doesn't grow. I'm stuck the way I am."

"Oh, for the sweet candy canes" North spat, pulling his beard. "Don't tell me you're… immortal?"

"It… would seem so. And I have powers… but I… I'm afraid someone will try to take them away from me."

"You have nothing to be afraid of" North smiled reassuringly, recovering of the initial shock. "There's other people like you, even I myself. We have powers too. You're not alone…" Rapunzel was relieved to hear that. But even so, there was still something she needed to tell.

"But… but I have no memories."

"What?"

"I can't remember anything before the tower. I… I don't know who I am, or if I do have an identity at all." Rapunzel sighed. Finally, she had said it. Facts that were always in her thoughts but she never said out loud. They troubled her, every day.

"I… well, this is unexpected" North admitted, sighing. But then, he clapped his hands and smiled again. "I know someone who has the exact same trouble! I think you'd like to meet him. All the girls like meeting him, in fact."

"Are you serious?" Rapunzel's mouth opened widely. "There's someone like me? Someone without a past?"

"It's not that you don't have a past" North patted Rapunzel's back slightly. "It's just that you can't remember it. But I am sure we will find a way to fix that. We can help you, I promise. And besides, there's… what you've been chosen for. Being a Guardian."

"I… I don't know about that yet" she hesitated, playing with a strand of her hair. "I would… prefer meeting everyone else first."

"Of course, of course!" North laughed, and whistled for his reindeers to fly to the window. "I'm very glad you've decided to come along! Let's go then!"

He climbed on the sleigh and followed for Rapunzel to come. She hesitatingly stepped on the cornice of the window, carrying the frying pan under her arm, and glanced at Pascal up on her shoulder. The chameleon very decidedly tied a strand of her hair tightly around his torso and gave her a thumbs (if chameleons do have thumbs) up. She sighed and nodded to herself. "I can't back away now" she thought "This is what I've been waiting for. I'm still scared of the outside, but… if there are people like me, I want to meet them. I want to find out who I am. And besides…" she looked back at the painting over the chimney for a second. It showed a girl with very long blond hair sitting over a tree, intently watching strange lights floating on the night sky. "I may get a chance to fulfill my dream of seeing them. It's settled, I'm going!"

She decidedly stepped on the sleigh, which tilted a little over her weight, and sat down.

"All set?" North asked, and she nodded. "Good! Then… let's go!"

Rapunzel screamed in joy as the sleigh flew through the sky as fast as ever and her hair trailed behind her, like a comet's tail.

Meanwhile, a barefoot boy with white hair and blue eyes was suspiciously staring around him as he walked through an alleyway. It was quite dark and he was alert, waiting under the light of a lamppost.

"Hello, mate. Been a long time." The boy swiftly turned around to see Bunnymund's shadow leaning against a wall, boomerang in hand. He stepped forward and the light allowed the boy to see his features. "Blizzard of '68, I believe. Easter Sunday, wasn't it?"

"You're not still mad about that, are ya?" the boy smiled, slightly leaning onto the staff he was carrying.

"Yes, but this is about something else." Bunnymund nonchalantly examined his boomerang. "Fellas?"

"HEY!" the boy was grabbed from his hood by two huge yetis. "Put me down, put me-!" Even though he struggled, he was put into a sack, which was closed tight, and he was thrown right into a magic portal. The yetis invited Bunny to pass too, but he chuckled.

"Me? Nah, not this time. See you back at the Pole."

And with that, he created a tunnel, threw himself right down and the tunnel closed, leaving a pretty pink flower growing on the street.

_**I hope Punzie and North's conversation wasn't too awkward or rushed... I tend to be bad at introducing characters to each other. Well, introductions ARE awkward, right...?**_

_**See you next Saturday!**_


	4. Chapter 3: Frost

_**Hi everyone! OMGOSH I can't even begin to tell you how happy and excited it makes me feel to read this many positive reviews and to have all these people following and favoriting this story! I'm really thankful to all of you and I hope to not let your expectations down...**_

_**I must warn you, this chapter contains dialogue extracted directly from the Rise of the Guardians movie. It's only from the very beginning, when Jack meets the other Guardians, so I wouldn't call it a spoiler (why would you be reading RotG related fanfiction if you didn't watch the movie first anyways?), and I wanted it to be the canon meeting and all because I felt the story wouldn't work well otherwise. But the rest is completely made up, by me, so yeah. Yeah. On to the story!**_

When North and Rapunzel arrived to his workshop, he introduced her to the other Guardians, whose hearts she quickly gained (even though she mistook Bunnymund for a kangaroo), and afterwards North allowed her to go and explore as she pleased through the workshop while he went to see how the other Guardians were doing.

"Oh, right, North, we've just brought ya something" Bunnymund said, smiling and pointing to the moving sack on the ground.

"Ah, there he is!" he cheered, as the boy in the sack finally opened it and looked around him with an amazed expression. "Jack Frost!" North greeted him.

"Woooow…" Jack muttered. "You've got to be kidding me…" The yetis grabbed him by his shoulders to get him up. "Hey, hey, put me down, put me down!" he claimed, as he was put back down.

"I hope the yetis treated you well" North smiled.

"Oh, yeah, I love being shoved in a sack and tossed through a magic portal!"

"Oh, good! That was my idea! Well, you know Bunny, obviously…"

"Obviously" Jack confirmed with a nonchalant side smirk.

"And the Tooth Fairy…"

"Hello Jack" Toothiana said, flying near him. "I've heard a lot about you… and your teeth!"

"M-my what?" Jack stammered, furrowing an eyebrow in confusion.

"Open up! Are they really as white as they say?" Tooth opened his mouth with his fingers and gasped. "Oh, they really DO sparkle like freshly fallen snow!" The mini fairies flew near Jack, letting out small squeals of joy. "Girls, put yourselves together" Toothiana scolded them. "It's not to squeeze the uniform."

"And, Sandman" North finished, but saw Sandy dozing off. "Sandy? Sandy! Wake up!"

"Hey, ho! Anyone wanna tell me why I'm here?" Jack asked, and Sandman quickly offered himself, making up images of sand quickly appear over his head. "Ah, uh… that's not really helping, but thanks little man. I must've done something really bad to get you four together. Am I on the naughty list?"

"Ha! On the naughty list? You hold the record" North frowned, and then brushed it off with a gesture. "But! No matter, we overlook. Now we are wiping clean this list."

"How come?" Jack asked with a hussy expression.

"How come? I'll tell you how come! Because now… You're a Guardian!" North raised his arms as two yetis raised two torches and the little elves trumpeted on his honour and a huge and well organized musical number began, while a huge book was brought to North's hands.

Suddenly, Jack stomped the ground with his staff, sending cold wind throughout the room, making everything abruptly stop. Just _what_ were they thinking?

"What makes you think I wanna be a Guardian?" he asked, frowning.

North laughed heartily. "Of course you do. Music!" The elves started trumpeting, but Jack stopped them again, very angrily of course.

"No music! This is all very flattering, but uh… you don't want me! You're all… hard work and deadlines! And I'm snowballs and fun times. I'm not a Guardian."

Toothiana flew next to him with a concerned expression. "Jack, I don't think you understand what it is we do. Each of those lights is a child" she pointed her hand to the World's Globe, which had many small shiny dots of light scattered all over it.

"And good or bad, naughty or nice, we protect them" North stated. "Tooth, fingers out of mouth."

"Oh, sorry!" she smiled apologetically, taking her hands out of Jack's mouth. "They're beautiful!"

"Okay, no more wishy-washy, Pitch is out there doing who knows what!"

"Wait, you mean… the Boogeyman?" Jack asked, his expression making it clear that he didn't think he was that much of a threat.

"Yes! When Pitch threatens us, he threatens them as well!"

"All the more reason to pick someone more qualified!" Jack stated, starting to walk away.

"Pick? You think we picked? No! You were chosen, like we were all chosen! By Man in Moon."

"What?" Jack turned to face them again.

"Last night, Jack. He chose you…" Toothiana said.

"Not just you, but also three other people" North added, crossing his arms.

"Man in Moon… he talks to you" Jack muttered, thinking about all the times he had tried to talk to the Moon and he wouldn't answer. All those words wasted for nothing. And now he was choosing him for something he didn't even want to do. Expecting him to follow through with what he had already decided. How daring. "Wait. What do you mean three other people!?"

"It is the first time, _ever_, that so many Guardians are chosen at once. It must be something really, really bad" North explained, with a very serious look on his face. "He chose them at the same time he chose you, Jack. They'll be just as confused as you are. Maybe even more. You're not alone in this Jack. It's all… or nothing."

Jack hesitated and looked at the Moon, but the fact that there were more people being dragged into this didn't change what he thought. He still didn't want to be a Guardian. He _did_ want to meet other people who were being dragged into it, though. Maybe, just maybe they would be able to see him.

"See, you can't say no… it's destiny" North said, making Jack snap.

"Why couldn't he tell me that himself? After so many years, this is his answer? To spend eternity like you guys, cooped up in some hideout making out new ways of bribing children? No, no. That's not for me!" he aggresively declared, and then stopped on his tracks to look back at them. "No offense."

"How, how is that not offensive? I mean, what does this clown know about bringing joy to children anyway?" Bunnymund contemptuously asked his companions, scratching his ear.

"Have you ever heard of a snow day?" Jack replied, ticked off by his words. "I know it's no hard-boiled egg, but kids like what I do."

Bunnymund approached him with a frown and spoke condescendingly. "But none of them believe in you, do they? See, you're invisible for them, it's like you don't even exist."

"Bunny, enough!" Tooth demanded.

"No, no" Jack countered. Those words had hit his weak spot, but he was determined not to show it. "The kangaroo's right."

"What? What are you calling me? I'm not a kangaroo, mate" Bunnymund's face at that moment wasn't exactly what you'd call friendly. Seemed like Jack had hit his sensible spot.

"Oh, and all this time I thought you were! If you're not a kangaroo, then what are you?"

"I'm a bunny. The Easter Bunny. People _believe_ in me."

Now that _did_ hurt. Jack's eyes were filled with tears he definitely wasn't going to release. Sandman huffed in his silent way and patted North's leg, motioning for him to do something before things got more out of hand than they already were.

"Enough of this! We don't have that much time to spend with you alone, Jack. We need to get the other chosen ones and explain to them too!" North said, ending the argument.

"Well, that's not my problem, I already told you I refuse…" Jack declared. "So…"

"The sleigh!" North claimed, clapping his hands. "Jack, come with me." North caught him by his hood and dragged him along.

"What? But I said no!" Jack yelled, trying to break free from him. "I don't wanna go onto your stupid sleigh!"

"We need to go fetch the others! And you're coming, whether you like it or not!" North stated, and started calling someone whose name Jack couldn't recognize. The winter spirit had to dodge the yetis running around to be able to go after him.

"I told you I'm not going with you guys! There's no way I'm climbing into some rickety, old…" Suddenly, he saw Rapunzel, who majestically emerged from behind the sleigh. Jack stared at her for a brief second, and then stated: "I'm in."

North laughed heartily as he climbed onto the sleigh. "Everyone loves the sleigh." North didn't seem to notice that Jack wasn't coming along exactly because of the sleigh. He stared at Rapunzel for a few seconds, having those silly hopes again, but then averted his eyes. It wasn't like she'd be able to see him or something…

Rapunzel looked at Jack with suspicion in her big eyes. "Who are you?" she asked, suspicious. "I didn't meet you before" probably because she was too busy feasting her eyes with all the wonderful toys North and his yetis had built. And well, this got Jack off guard. He stared back at her again, his eyes now glimmering. She _actually_ saw him!

"Oh, right" North remembered, and motioned at Jack with his big hand. "Rapunzel, this here is Jack Frost. He's another one of the new chosen Guardians. And he's the one I told you about… you know, with your same problem." Jack didn't understand that one thing, but that made Rapunzel's eyes lit when looking at him again.

"Well, if all the new Guardians look like this, I won't be complaining anymore" Jack mumbled to himself, whistling in admiration to Rapunzel's beauty. And maybe… maybe the other new Guardians would be able to see him, too. How great could that be?

Maybe he would come along after all.

Rapunzel, meanwhile, was quickly approaching him with the intention of asking him loads of questions, but North stopped her.

"There will be plenty of time to talk about that later! We have a job to do now. Let's go!"

Rapunzel was upset, but she quickly recovered her happy face when thinking about a new ride on the sleigh. Pascal, on the other hand… wasn't so happy. Rapunzel smiled and left him with one of the yetis she had befriended, promising to be back soon. She took her frying pan and quickly climbed on the sleigh, fetching some of her hair in her hands so no one would step on it. Jack was already sitting, and only then he noticed the enormous amount of hair she had.

"That's uh… that's quite a lot of hair" he noted, and hesitated, wondering if it would be alright to ask the question he had in mind. She smiled, guessing what he was thinking, and sighed.

"Seventy feet."

"Oh. Oh, I see" he stammered, scratching his head. Having a conversation with someone other than the Guardians felt awkward and incredibly good at the same time. "I was thinking about eighty or so." He showed her his lopsided smile, and she laughed.

"It already takes enough work to brush it like this!"

"Off we go!" North announced, and the sleigh took off with a squeal of delight coming from Rapunzel.

_**And that's that for now. I do hope interactions weren't awkward... gosh interactions between newly met characters are hella difficult for me, I assume you noticed that and you will keep noticing it on the next two chapters because INTRODUCTIONS.**_

_**But yeah, I'm very glad you enjoy the things I write! You really make me want to keep this going. See y'all next week!**_


	5. Chapter 4: Dragon

_**Hi everyone! So here I am, with chapter four! YAY! My internet was being a horrible meanie and wouldn't let me upload... Sorry if I'm late!**_

_**I can't thank you enough for those reviews, follows and favorites. You all really make my day!**_

_**Oh, and for those reviewers betting on Hiccup being next... GUESS WHAT!**_

North's portal took them to a rocky island filled with abrupt mountains and slopes covered in forests. It was noticeably cold, and Rapunzel shivered. Noticing, Jack moved a bit away from her so his own cold temperature wouldn't affect her.

"Where are we, North?" Jack asked as Rapunzel peered over the edge of the sleigh to see. Suddenly, the girl screamed.

"WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS!?" she hastily got back inside the sleigh, making it move and lose balance a bit.

"Don't be afraid, Rapunzel!" North laughed. "They will not harm you as long as you don't threaten them! Those Vikings, on the other hand…" he said in a more serious tone as he looked at the people in position to fight.

"What are you two talking ab…" Jack interrupted himself when he saw the creatures roaming through the island they were approaching to. There seemed to be a village with people living there, but that wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that there were _dragons_ flying over it. "What on earth…"

"I welcome you to the island of Berk, home of the Vikings, mostly known for its very unusual fauna…" North looked back at them and pointed the whole island with a gesture of his hand, smiling. "Dragons."

"Dragons!?" Rapunzel yelped. "But those are bad! In books, they're always kidnapping princesses and burning people and stuff!"

"Well, that looks a lot like what they're doing right now…" Jack noted.

"Yes, it looks like they're attacking, but it's nothing big… The greater attacks happen at night" North sighed. "Vikings are really stubborn and refuse to leave the village even though it's rather obvious dragons do not want them there."

"A matter of honour, huh…" the winter spirit glanced over at the people trying to kill the beast.

"You could say that. They've been fighting dragons for generations" North sighed once again. "They don't realize how wonderful dragons are."

"But… but shouldn't we do something!?" Rapunzel asked, holding tightly onto her frying pan. "Like, helping them, or…?"

"We should find a place to land away from the village so we will be safe until things calm down."

"Aren't we going to help?" the blonde hesitantly looked over at the village.

"They don't need our help. As I said, they've been fighting dragons for ages. And dragons have enough work with them to worry about us."

"Why do they not like dragons?" Jack asked. "Well, aside from that attacking people and burning houses thing."

"Dragons steal their animals" North explained as he maneuvered the sleigh down. "And of course they can't allow that. Winters here are rough and they need meat to feed themselves. That's the main reason why they're enemies… aside from the attacking people and burning houses thing."

North carefully moved his sleigh above a forest, searching for a place clean of trees to land safely. Then he noticed a hidden valley with a lake on its middle, on a lower level than the rest of the land, surrounded by rocks and hidden by the forest itself.

"That will be perfect!" the bearded man skillfully directed the reindeers to land as carefully as possible near the lake, and once they did, he let them out for them to drink.

"What are we going to do now?" Jack asked, jumping down the sleigh. "Who are we supposed to look for?"

North was about to answer, but was interrupted by a sudden blast of energy that crashed right next to them. Rapunzel shrieked and climbed on Jack's back, holding onto him with arms and feet. Before he could protest, her trembling hand pointed the frying pan at the sky above, and Jack's eyes and mouth opened widely when he saw what she had seen.

An enormous black dragon was flying just nearby. It looked like he was trying to land on the same place they had, and upon seeing them, it had considered them as a threat. It opened its mouth to show another blast of energy charging. Rapunzel screamed and buried her face in Jack's neck, closing her eyes tightly and waiting for the hit to come. On the other hand, Jack pointed his staff at the huge beast and North drew out his swords, ready to fight. The dragon was just about to shoot, and they braced for impact.

"TOOTHLESS!" a voice firmly yelled, and the dragon immediately stopped gathering his energy blast and landed on the ground, still gazing at the three companions with distrust and growling.

They gasped and turned to see what the source of that voice was. They found a boy, about Rapunzel and Jack's age, very skinny and not so tall. He was dressed in Viking attire, but he didn't look much like one would expect a Viking to look (big, hairy and muscular). He had brown straight hair and green eyes that were cautiously looking at them.

"Who are you?" he asked, slowly walking towards the dragon. To everyone's surprise, he reassuringly put a hand over the dragon's neck, patting it. Even so, the beast didn't stop growling at them, staring with its threatening straight pupils.

"We are not here to harm you" North reassured, sheathing his swords. "We were just… startled… by… that" he eloquently pointed at the dragon with his hand.

"Oh, yeah, um… S-sorry about that" the boy rubbed his neck with one hand. "Erm… But what are you doing here? You don't look like you're from around here."

"My name is North" the man smiled, "and these here are Jack and Rapunzel." He pointed at the two of them, Rapunzel still holding tightly onto Jack and pointing her frying pan at the dragon.

"H-h-he's not going to a-attack us, is h-he?" she asked with a very shaky voice.

"N-no, no! He's not! Am I right, Toothless?" he said to the dragon, frowning. The beast, who he seemed to call Toothless, groaned and sat down on its butt, still frowning upon the three strangers. "Ah…" the boy sighed. "My name is Hiccup."

"You… you tamed him?" Rapunzel still pointed at the dragon with her frying pan.

"Yeah, I… sorta did" Hiccup rubbed the back of his head.

"There, Rapunzel, now, would you please get off me already? You're gonna break my back!" Jack groaned.

"Eep!" Rapunzel quickly let go of him, her cheeks pink. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

"Well, you could make it up to me with a good long massage…" he raised an eyebrow with a lopsided smile, and Rapunzel hit him with her frying pan in response. "Hey, that was a joke!" he laughed, rubbing the arm where the frying pan had hit him.

"Wait" North said, looking at Hiccup more intently. "Hiccup you said? Hiccup Horrendous Haddock?" Hiccup rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Aha! I knew it! I thought it was you but I couldn't say for sure!"

"Huh?" Hiccup didn't understand a thing.

"Congratulations, boy! You've been chosen!" North approached him and patted his back, laughing merrily. "You're going to be a Guardian!"

Hiccup's face was priceless.

"What" was the only thing he said, utterly puzzled by everything at that moment.

North began the process of getting him to understand what Guardians were and what they did while Toothless guarded him, paying attention to any suspicious movement they might do. Hiccup seemed to grasp the concept, but didn't seem too inclined to believe any of it.

"So you're basically telling me you're Santa Claus?"

"How else would I have such a sleigh, kid?" North laughed, pointing at his sleigh with a motion of his hand. Hiccup thoughtfully nodded; the sleigh was pretty solid proof.

"Okay, let's say that everything you just told me is real… Why exactly do you think I can be a Guardian?"

"I'm not the one to say it, boy" North smiled. "Man in the Moon chose you. And if he did, that means you must have something very special inside you."

"I don't get it" Hiccup sighed, letting himself fall on the grass.

"No one gets it" Jack comforted him. "You just go along with it."

"Yeah, it's not that bad… at least for now" Rapunzel promised, with an understanding smile.

Hiccup stood lost in thought for a moment. He sighed and thought about how he had spent about all of his life being the underdog, an embarrassment to his father, a weakling, a shame for his tribe, worthless… everything a Viking shouldn't be summed up in one person. He just wanted to be like everyone else was. He really just wanted to fit in, but maybe… maybe that just wasn't the place for him to fit in. Maybe he'd find it if he ran away with them. Maybe Jack and Rapunzel were just like him, just looking for a place they would fit in.

"Well… what do you say, Toothless? Are you up for it?" the dragon made a sound that almost sounded like a cat's meowing, and its pupils widened, glowing in excitement. Toothless got up and slowly approaching Rapunzel and Jack, smelling them, no longer menacing, but curious.

Rapunzel fretched a little when the dragon sniffed her hair, but its breath tickled her neck and made her laugh. Jack approached the dragon curiously, and laughed when he saw its curious kitten-like face. He made a snowflake in his hand and made it fly towards the dragon's nose. Toothless sneezed, but showed him his toothless smile.

"Hey! How did you just… do that!?" Hiccup exclaimed, pointing straight at Jack with a dumbfounded expression.

"Do what? Oh, this?" he created another snowflake and blowed it right onto Hiccup's nose.

"Jack!" Rapunzel yelped, eyes widened in wonder, trying to catch it as it flew. "What is that!?"

"Don't tell me you've never seen snow before?"

"That's not the question!" Hiccup interrupted. "The real question is how the heck did you create it out of nothing!?"

"Right, I might not have told you that" Jack smiled cockily. "Not to brag, but I can make it snow, my staff can freeze just about anything and I can command the wind to my will. I'm not called Jack Frost just because it sounds good, you know."

"Huh? Don't tell me… wait. Jokul Frosti? You _exist_?" Hiccup's eyes widened to an unknown extent.

"Oh, right. You Vikings and your hideous names" Jack laughed.

"This is impossible" poor Hiccup threw himself back on the grass, his head resting on his hands, unable to accept that all of those surreal things were real.

"Well, uh… I should say it too shouldn't I" Rapunzel laughed awkwardly. "Well, my hair is this long because… because it's magical. And if I cut it it loses its magic."

"What?" Jack and Hiccup simultaneously looked at her.

"It… it sorta glows when I sing and is able to heal any kind of wounds" her smile was so utterly awkward at that moment it almost made Jack want to laugh. But, he guessed, it must be hard for her to go around telling people such a thing when they had literally just met. "Oh, but maybe you need some… proof." Rapunzel awkwardly wiggled her fingers and sighed. "Please don't freak out."

She started singing her song, and as she sang, her hair began glowing; it started from the top of her head, slowly flowing down the rest of her huge amount of hair. Every single strand started glowing a very warm yellow light. Jack and Hiccup's expressions were, in one word, priceless. To say they were dumbfounded would be an understatement. When Rapunzel stopped singing, the glow on her hair slowly faded, and she looked at them shyly, with her mouth slightly crooked as if saying "yeah, I know it's weird".

"Oh, uh, well, I should be used to all of the weird powers thing" Jack ran a hand through his hair and just laughed it off. Hiccup, on the other hand, buried his face back in his hands with a deep, long sigh.

"What the hell have I just gotten myself into?"

"Well, Hiccup, you trained a dragon" Rapunzel smiled, holding her frying pan close to her chest. "You're not exactly normal, either!"

"Let's not dwell on self-pity too much, shall we?" North laughed and patted Hiccup's back. "We still have some work left to do… there's still another chosen one we need to find."

"Let's go then!" Rapunzel excitedly smiled, jumping over the sleigh.

_**That's all for me today! Hope you enjoyed it, and don't hesitate to leave any comments/critiques on it.**_


	6. Chapter 5: Archery

**_Hi everyone!_**

**_Before we start I wanted to make a NOTICE. My laptop doesn't work well and its charger is on its way to be fixed, so I might not be able to update next week. If it's so, receive my apologies in advance. Believe me, I'm really sorry about it. Nobody hates having a crappy laptop more than I do, I swear. And not being able to write more on this one REALLY sucks :C_**

**_I also want to thank all of you for your impossibly kind and adorable reviews and all these follows and favorites OMGOSH IT FEELS GOOD. More than that. I'm incredibly glad you like it so much. So here's chapter 5! :D Everybody say YAY for Merida finally showing up!_**

It took a good while to convince Toothless to go through North's magic portal, and when he finally crossed, he almost threw Hiccup off his back because of the shock of finding himself in a completely different place in a second.

"Whoa! Toothless, relax, it's okay!" Hiccup reassured him, struggling to keep his balance.

"Everything alright over there?" North turned around to check on him, and when Hiccup nodded, he hurried his sleigh forward. "Let's go then!"

This time, the kingdom was covered in green forests that drew a magical aura all over the land, which abruptly ended on the highest cliffs above the sea. Rapunzel squealed in delight at the sight of it.

"The sea! It's so beautiful!" she leaned over the edge of the sleigh to admire it as much as she could. Gazing upon the bluest waters she had ever seen, she began wishing to dive into them, to feel them against her skin, even if they were cold. They did look appetizing for a swim.

Hiccup stared in awe at everything beneath them. It was the first time he had actually stepped out of his island, and he never imagined there was so much beauty outside of it. And he hadn't even seen the smallest part of everything there was in the world… Rapunzel's thoughts at that moment were much alike. There was so much wonder outside her tower, and yet she always stood there, not daring to step outside. She regretted all the years she spent trapped in there with all her soul.

"Where are we?" Hiccup asked.

"The Highlands" North smiled. "Lands of tradition and magic."

They overflew the breathtaking landscape for a while, searching for a safe place to land. They found a small clearing among the forests and decided to land there for now. Hiccup told Toothless to hide and wait there while they went exploring, in case there were people around, and, as a response, the dragon flew on a tree and found a comfortable spot in it to sleep. When they started walking, cheers and voices of many people could be heard.

"There must be something big going on" Jack noted, and North nodded.

"I saw a castle nearby while we were up in the air. Maybe there's some sort of event?"

"Let's go find out then" the winter spirit was about to command the wind and start running when North grabbed him by his hood, stopping him.

"It's best if no one sees us, Jack" he advised. "We certainly don't look like we're from around here and we'd attract too much attention. Let's try and stay unnoticed."

And so they walked as silently as they could until they reached the end of the forest. Peeking over the bushes, they saw a wide esplanade where a crowd was standing in expectation. Three different banners were nailed on the ground in front of three different crowds, which allowed to guess the three banners represented different clans. Aside of them, in a separated spot and over wooden thrones, three people were sitting, who ought to be the king, queen and seemingly the princess of the land.

"In accordance wi' our laws, only th' first born ay each clan may compete fur th' hand ay th' fair maiden" the queen announced with a clear, loud, yet gentle voice, getting up from her throne and being followed by the king, whom she took by the hand. "Th' princess has chosen th' trial, which shall be archery. Sae, archers, tae yer marks!"

"Y-yeah, archers, t-tae yer marks!" the king quickly repeated, stuttering a little bit.

"An' may th' lucky arrow find its targit!" the queen wished luck to the three boys that stepped up from the crowd.

"So that's what it is" North understood. "A betrothal."

"They talk weird" Rapunzel said, her eyes very open while observing the three boys taking positions before a target each. "And why are they wearing skirts?" Jack snorted at that, and Hiccup chuckled.

"That's just their accent. And well, those are some typical attires here in the Highlands…" North smiled.

"Very manly, as you can see" Jack chuckled, and leaned forward to whisper in Rapunzel's ear. "I hear they're not wearing any underwear beneath that."

"Jack!" Rapunzel punched his chest away from her. "Gross!"

"It's true, though" Hiccup intervened, smiling a little. "I've read about it."

"Hush, they're starting!" North hushed them, and the four looked attentively to see how the competition would develop.

The first suitor was a big one, not muscular, but he looked strong. On the other hand, he looked very shy as well, and he held the bow and arrow really delicately, almost as if he didn't really want to touch them, which wasn't a very adequate thing to do for a shot to come out right. And of course, it didn't come out right. It landed on the farthest line from the red bullseye, and people from his clan let out groans of frustration.

The second suitor, on the contrary, looked very full of himself. He held the bow and arrow in a very proffessional-like position, with a remarked hairflip that made some girls in the back scream.

"Someone here has quite a bunch of fangirls" Jack noted. He wasn't one to talk, though.

He shot, and the arrow almost hit the bullseye. Almost. It was a very short distance, but it was still there.

"NOOOOOOOO!" he screamed in frustration, falling to his knees and throwing the bow at a good distance.

"Good arm" Jack laughed as someone in the crowd caught the bow.

"You should get a job as a commentator" Hiccup replied, and Jack shrugged, smiling mischievously.

"I just like to point things out."

The third suitor looked… absent, to say it in a kind way. He was pinching the bow's cord so it would vibrate, until he realized it was his turn. He had some trouble picking an arrow from the carcaj, he spinned around himself and all the arrows ended up on the ground.

"Aw, wee lamb" the princess' comment could be perfectly heard.

When he managed to catch an arrow, he positioned himself to shoot, but the arrow inexplicably turned away as if it was repelled by the bow. When he positioned it back, it did the same thing again.

"I'm going to enjoy this so much" Jack was trying really hard not to burst out laughing at that point.

"Och, com' on! Shoot boy!" the king suddenly shouted at him. This startled the boy, who unconsciously released the arrow… which hit directly in the red bullseye, in a clean and flawless shot. Everyone gasped in amazement and the people of his clan immediately started cheering and celebrating. Jack was completely dumbfounded.

"Well, looks like you've got nothing to say on this one" Hiccup laughed a little. "I feel sorry for that princess, though…"

At that moment, everything went silent for a moment, since everyone was staring at a hooded figure that planted a new banner on the ground. When the hood was removed, everyone gasped at the sight of no other than the princess, who without the cloth covering her head showed an amount of fiery, messy red hair. North's eyes opened wide at her sight.

"That's her!" he exclaimed. "She's who Manny chose!"

"What? The princess?" Jack shook his head. "Are you serious…"

The princess' powerful voice overcame his.

"Ah am Merida, first born descendent of clan DunBrogh, and Ah'll be shootin' fur mah own hand!"

Everyone's mouths opened, and protests could be heard as the princess began shooting arrows at the targets. The queen got up from her seat and commanded her to stop, but she didn't listen. Her first arrow hit the bullseye fast and clean; so did the second. And the third one… she stopped for a second, positioned herself to shoot, ignoring the queen coming after her and ordering her not to loose, and breathed out, releasing. Her arrow split the suitor's in half and drilled right through the target, to everyone's astonishment. She briefly smiled with pride, and then turned to face a very, very angered queen.

"This not good" North muttered, stroking his beard.

"That was _amazing_" Rapunzel whispered, unable to find another word to describe it.

Hiccup on her left was still staring at the last arrow with his mouth open, and Jack on her right ran a hand through his hair.

"The girl has some nerve, gotta admit that."

"She's defied tradition" North replied. "She's offended the three clans at once. This won't please the queen at all."

"And this won't help us much, will it?" Jack sighed.

"She's going to get in serious trouble" North nodded.

"Isn't there any way we can help her?" Rapunzel asked, worried.

"I could go peek in the castle" Jack suggested. North frowned, and he continued: "It'll be alright. No one else can see me, after all. And I can check on her to see if she'll need help."

North sighed. "I guess you could do that."

"Wait for me at the clearing where we left the sleigh!" he smiled, and flew over to the castle without anyone noticing him at all.

"How come they can't see him?" Hiccup asked as they made their way back.

"Guardians cannot be seen unless people believe in them" North explained.

"But we can see him!" Rapunzel replied. "And I didn't even know he existed before this day!"

"Well, I don't know why that is" North admitted. "But it probably has to do with the fact that you're all chosen by the Moon. I bet that princess, Merida, will also be able to see him… I hope he's careful with that."

In the meanwhile, Jack was peeking through a window. He saw the princess and the queen in the room, and they seemed to be having a very strong argument. Jack couldn't hear what they were saying, but he saw how the princess broke a tapestry that hanged from the wall with a sword. The queen seemed very upset about that, and angrily took the princess' bow from her and tossed it into the firelight. The princess gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes filled with tears. Incensed and upset, she left the room running. Jack rushed to follow her, feeling really sorry about what he just saw. The relationship of princess Merida with her mother didn't seem too good. The winter spirit saw her climbing onto a horse that seemed way too big for her and galloping away from the castle, into the forest.

"Oh-oh" Jack rushed after her. If she followed that way, she'd end up in the clearing where North and the others were…

Merida hid her face into her horse's mane, crying her eyes out as they galloped through the forest. Some branches hit her arms as she covered her face to protect herself, and suddenly, the horse stopped on his tracks, throwing her off of him. She screamed as she fell straight to the ground. "Angus!" she protested, slowly getting up. And then, she saw the giant sleigh that was parked right before her. The girl couldn't do anything but stare at it with an open mouth, and then she noticed the three people that were sitting on it.

"Oh! Are you okay?" a girl with the longest hair she'd ever seen asked, rushing over to help her up. "My name is Rapunzel!" she smiled, putting a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"… Merida…" she muttered, still unable to comprehend what was going on.

"I know! I saw you at the tournament!" Rapunzel excitedly replied. "You were _so brave_! It was amazing!"

"How lucky we are, huh?" North laughed, and introduced himself and Hiccup. At that moment, Jack arrived, and Merida yelped at the sight of a flying boy. It took them a good while to convince her that they were friendly, and it took an even longer while to get her to grasp the concept of what Guardians were and why exactly they were there. Also, to explain why the hell Jack was able to fly and to explain why Rapunzel had seen that as the perfect chance to show her glowing hair powers to her.

"Sae, let me get thes straight. Yoo're Santa Claus, yoo're a lassie wi' magical hair, yoo're a Viking an' yoo're some winter spirit Ah ne'er heard of until thes very moment… Doesnae sound plausible… But Ah like th' idea!" she laughed, and with that, she believed. She accepted their explanations in excitement and hopes of a whole new adventure, seeing how new horizons to everything she'd ever known opened up right before her eyes. After all, seeing a flying boy and a glowing hair along with a very Christmasy looking sleigh would help anyone to believe.

"Does that mean you'll come with us?" North asked, and Rapunzel's eyes lit with hope. She'd never had a female friend before, and wanted so badly to have one.

"Ah…" Merida hesitated for a second, looking back to where the castle was. There was nothing she wanted more than running away with them, escaping the restricted life she hated so much, escaping her mother's boundaries and escaping her betrothal. But even so, it wasn't like she wanted to leave forever. She wanted to leave because she wished to be stronger and better, and able to change her fate. But she still loved her family and worried about them. "Ah need tae go back an' get mah clothes changed an' a new bow... an'… will Ah be able... tae come back?"

"You can go fetch as many things as you like" North reassured her. "As for the coming back thing… well, that depends on future events. But if you'd like to, no one's going to forbid you from doing so. But even if you weren't to come with us…" he added. "You're chosen. So the evil we are to fight would probably come after you and your family anyway."

"Evil? What evil?" Rapunzel stuttered. "I thought you only wanted us to be Guardians?"

"Of course, but Guardians protect the children, and as to protect the children, we need to fight what threatens them. I will explain everything to you when we get back to workshop."

Merida stood thoughtful for a while. "Ah cannae let mah family an' mah kingdom be in danger. Wait fur me here, Ah'll be right back." She smiled and quickly rode Angus back to the castle.

_**Aaaand that's that. I do hope you like it and I hope you'll be forgiving if I'm not able to update for a while. Geez this laptop does suck.**_


	7. Chapter 6: Rebellion

_**EDIT: well, crap. I didn't realize and accidentally pasted the same chapter twice on the same document, so the story in this one was repeated... Sorry about that guys, and thanks for telling me, I never noticed! It should be fixed and okay now.**_

_**Hello everyone! I'm a bit early today, but I have a new laptop (YAAAAAY) and I've been playing with it all day... so I thought I would bring chapter 6 to you guys :B Geez this one came out much longer than the others, and I think I'm making them longer and longer... unintentionally, I swear xD But I hope you guys enjoy a long chapter :3**_

When the dragon descended from the tree he was sleeping in, Merida couldn't believe her eyes. At first, she thought she was dreaming, and that maybe everything that happened since she fell off her horse had just been a dream she had while being unconscious. But then the creature approached her a bit, and Hiccup tried to reassure her.

"Please don't freak out, he's friendly, I swear!"

And Merida fell right on her butt, crawled back a tad and started screaming, pointing at the enormous beast in fear. Hiccup rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well, now we've done it" Toothless turned his back and walked away like he was offended. "Oh, come on, Toothless, don't do this!" Hiccup begged, going after him.

"W-w-what is that!?" Merida yelled, her hand trembling as she still pointed at the dragon.

"His name is Toothless!" Rapunzel explained. "Don't worry, he's a friend!"

"A FRIEND!? That thing? Ur ye serioos!?"

"He's a dragon, not a _thing_" Hiccup replied, patting Toothless' neck. "And he's a friend, yeah. He won't hurt you at all."

"Well, her reaction is pretty understandable" Jack replied, smiling.

"There's nothing to be afraid of" Hiccup sighed. "Here, come near him."

Merida gulped and slowly got up from the ground, carefully approaching Toothless.

"Toothless, this is Merida" Hiccup said. "And I'm quite sure she's sorry for how she freaked out before… right?" he asked, looking at Merida. She nodded, still unsure. The dragon turned his head to glance at her, and she carefully reached out her hand to touch him. Toothless reluctantly allowed her to touch the scales on his neck. The girl's mouth opened in astonishment while contemplating the dragon more closely.

"He's magnificent" she whispered, looking into the dragon's green eyes. Hiccup smiled in satisfaction, and the dragon's pupils widened, like a cat's. Toothless bumped Merida's face with his nose, playful, and his breath made her skin tickle. She laughed and touched the dragon's face, still in disbelief. "He's amazin'!"

Rapunzel clapped her hands in happiness and Jack chuckled while seeing the dragon playfully snort in Merida's hair.

"Hiccup!" the redhead exclaimed. She pronounced his name somewhat weird, sounding more like _Hiccoop_ rather than Hiccup. It sounded funny. The girl quickly approached him with her eyes wide and sparkling in wonder. "Hoo did ye manage tae befriend him like thes!? Vikings kill dragons, don't they?" her face became more serious at this point, and Hiccup nodded with a somewhat sad expression. "Why didne ye?"

Everyone stood in silence for a moment as they awaited Hiccup's answer. Rapunzel and Jack hadn't noticed how much of an internal struggle it must've been for a Viking to spare and even befriend a dragon, when all of his people had always killed and hated them.

"Well, I… I just couldn't do it. When I saw him, tied to the ground and defenseless, I… I looked into his eyes. I wouldn't kill him, because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him… and I saw myself." Hiccup sighed deeply, as if he had lifted a weight from his heart when saying that. Merida smiled and put her hand over his shoulder.

"Ye did the right thin' " she said, and Hiccup shyly smiled back at her. Rapunzel smiled widely.

"Of course you did! Toothless is amazing!"

"You're a smart fella" Jack nodded, patting Hiccup's back.

North smiled too. "I can see why Man in Moon chose you. You really are four special people."

To go back to North's workshop, Merida insisted on riding Toothless really badly, but the dragon refused to let her onto his back. No one who wasn't Hiccup could ride him (at least not yet), and he made that abundantly clear. So, a very chirpy Rapunzel, a very cocky Jack and a very grumpy Merida got over a very merry North's sleigh, and a very exasperated Hiccup rode on Toothless' back. When they got back to the workshop, Sandy, Tooth and a very huge amount of little elves gathered around them to meet the new Guardians. At first it was nice, but after a while it became too much pressure over the four teens. Toothless was overwhelmed, too, but he took care of it by fiercely growling at the elves, who quickly ran away from him.

"Okay, if you'd allow me to explain…" North cleared his throat, and at a signal of his, the yetis dragged the elves and Guardians away from the young ones, who sighed in relief. A yeti handed Rapunzel back her little chameleon, and she smiled thankfully before turning to listen to North. "I'm sure you all have heard about… well, the Boogeyman."

"Boogeyman?" Merida wrinkled her nose. "He doesnae exist!"

"It's just a tale to scare children off to bed" Hiccup shrugged. Rapunzel, on the other hand, wasn't so sure about it, and bit her lip not to confess her fear.

"I'm afraid he's not" North seriously gazed upon them. "He's just as real as we are… and he's a threat. He'll go after you."

"What!?" Rapunzel yelped. Her heart beat fast and her hands trembled, but she wasn't willing to show that she feared the Boogeyman.

"What do you mean after us?" Jack asked, frowning in suspicion.

"That's what Man in Moon chose you for!" North then smiled. "You will fight him along with us, we will defeat him and everything will be okay again! And you all will become former Guardians!"

At that moment, the elves started cheering all at once and the Guardians clapped with enthusiasm. North enlarged the ruckus by suggesting they did the vows right that moment.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second, what vows?" Jack asked, motioning for everyone to calm down.

"Your vows to be Guardians, of course!" North clapped his hands. "Music!" he claimed, and the little elves began trumpeting. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Not this all over again!"

"Hey, wait a second" Hiccup intervened. "Nobody told me I had to vow for anything."

"Well, you _are_ going to become Guardians, right?" Toothiana replied with a goofy smile.

"Then you have to vow" Bunnymund said, and with a gesture of his hand, he added "Simple, clean and easy."

"But I… I don't think I'm ready for vowing anything!" Rapunzel said, clutching her frying pan in her hands. Pascal had already climbed onto her shoulder.

"But you were chosen!" North replied, and Tooth eagerly nodded. "By Man in Moon! So you're going to be Guardians!"

"But who's that Man in Moon you speak of? And why does he choose people like this? Do we not have a say in it?" Hiccup exclaimed.

"That's the joke" Jack humorlessly smiled.

"You're chosen; it's destiny, written in the stars. You can't avoid it" North confirmed with seriousness. "There's nothing else you can do."

"Great" Hiccup breathed, rolling his eyes. "That's not exactly my idea of 'adventuring'."

"What? NO!" Merida yelled, clenching her hands into fists. "Ah ran away from home tae change mah fate an' noo ye tell me thes!? Ah willnae accept another destiny that's been decided fur me! Aam nae goin' through wi' thes! Ye cannae make me!"

"But why?" Tooth asked. "Why don't you want to be Guardians?"

"What's wrong with being one?" Bunny added, frowning, and Sandman eagerly nodded in approval of his words.

"There's nothing wrong with being a Guardian, from what you've told me" Hiccup calmly replied. "But I didn't think your idea of 'adventuring' included making us accept responsibilities we do not want and we didn't ask for" he obviously wasn't up for such responsibilities at his age. He wasn't ready, nor did he want to be. He never really liked children anyway.

"Do you understand what it is we do?" Bunnymund growled. "We protect the children. It is a honour to be chosen for this!"

"Well guess what? I don't want honour!" Jack angrily yelled, his expression defiant. "I didn't go with you to find honour or glory or satisfaction on being a Guardian! I don't want to be one, I never wanted to! I haven't been seen by anyone other than you guys in forever. People _passed through _me, I've been alone for _years_! I've been trying to talk to the Moon for years so I could find out who I am and why I am here, and he never answered me, not a single word! And now he's here choosing me for something I don't want and I can't even have a say in it? I'm not going through with that!" when he finished talking, his breathing was fast and his expression was furious, his eyes with an aggressive glow that made clear he wasn't going through with it.

Rapunzel's eyes widened when hearing Jack's words, because the exact same thing had happened to her. She wanted answers from the Moon and the only one she had obtained was this one. And she decided she would stay by Jack's side, because the only one who could truly understand her was him… and vice versa. She was alone for years, and Jack was too, in a different way. "I don't want to be forced into doing it" she firmly said, majestically straightening up, standing for herself. She looked like a member of royalty when she did that.

"Ah ran away from home sae Ah cood choose mah own fate. Ah want tae choose, nae tae be chosen!" Merida crossed her arms in defiance. She wasn't one to receive orders, really, and now that she'd finally taken the step to run, they wanted to force her into doing something she didn't want _again_. There was no way she was going to just shut up and accept it.

"Then why did you all agree to come along?" North asked, his eyes serious and piercing each one of them.

"Well, see, we didn't think you would force us into doing something we didn't want and we didn't agree to" Hiccup replied, frowning, and Toothless seemed to agree with him.

"Ah ran away wi' ye coz Ah thought ye wood tak' me tae an adventure, nae tae dae somethin' ye wanted me tae" Merida added, her expression still firm and decided.

"I came along because I wanted to find out who I am, or who I was" Rapunzel answered. "Because I thought you could help me with it. Not because I eagerly wanted to become a Guardian. I don't remember signing up for that!" Pascal seconded her by nodding and sticking his tongue out to the Guardians.

"I wanted to meet others like me" Jack simply said. "Others that were going to be forced into this. Other _humans_ that could see me. I did say since the very beginning that I didn't want to be a Guardian at all."

The Guardians could just stare at them. They definitely weren't expecting this to happen. When a Guardian was chosen, they accepted their duty as a honour; they did never question what the Moon had decided for them, for it had leaded them to better lives and to happiness. But they really weren't ones to force people into something.

"But Pitch will go after you" North said, slightly recovering from shock. "He won't let you run away. You are powerful and he will notice it."

"Sae what? If he tries tae come after us we'll simply kick his ass!" Merida exclaimed, and started walking away from them. She turned her head to stare at her fellow partners in rebellion. "Ur ye comin' or what?"

Rapunzel eagerly nodded and followed her close behind, with Pascal right on top of her head. Hiccup sighed, not sure about what he was getting into _yet again_, but he followed them nonetheless, with Toothless beside him. As for Jack, he swiftly got one of North's portal balls and waved a cocky gesture of goodbye at the Guardians as he slided away on the ice his staff created on the floor.

"Um, Merida, I don't mean to sound like I don't trust you, but… where are we going?" Hiccup asked as the gates to North's workshop closed behind them and a labyrinth of ice tunnels opened before them.

"As far from haur as we can!" Merida's resolution didn't break down, but she was undecisively looking at all the alternate paths they could choose.

"Uh… aren't we in, like, North Pole?" Rapunzel said, putting a lock of her extremely long hair behind her ear. "We can't exactly walk our way out of here… If we tried and went out through one of these, we'd surely die, either from falling down this height… or frozen in the cold."

"Ah… uh…" Merida stuttered, biting her lips. The impulsive heat of rebellion had taken over her, and her only urge had been to run away. She hadn't really thought of what to do next.

"Well, I predicted you wouldn't have a runaway plan" Jack intervened with a cocky smile. "And so, I have gotten us our ticket out of here" he nonchalantly twirled the portal ball in his hands, showing off a bit.

"Then open it awreddy, geez!" Merida grunted, punching his shoulder, more annoyed because she hadn't thought of that herself than by Jack's cocky attitude.

"Fine, fine. Portal, get us somewhere far from North Pole" he said, and broke down the glass ball on the iced floor, opening up a portal. "After you, miladies."

They quickly crossed the portal, anxious to find out what was awaiting them on the other side and oblivious to what they would have to confront afterwards.

_**So yeah, that's it for now. I hope it wasn't too sudden... (?) I thought it would be best to do it this way, since all of them have a desire for independence and freedom and stuff... So I thought none of them would want to be Guardians after all xD I hope you guys like this one. Feel free to review it and say what you think!**_

_**All these reviews and follows and favorites make me really happy. Thank all of you for making my days a little brighter!**_


	8. Chapter 7: Wood

_**He-ey! 'Sup? What, I'm uploading early? Well, indeed I am. I've been feeling a little down these days so I thought I'd distract myself with writing... And I thought I'd upload a little earlier in hopes that you guys are not feeling down!**_

_**OH, and in the previous chapter I accidentally pasted the story twice without realizing. I'm just clever like that. I fixed it so it should be fine now. Thanks people who told me! And thanks to everyone reviewing and following and etcetera. I love you all in the least creepy way possible.**_

"Any idea of where we are right now?" Hiccup asked, in a tone that showed he already knew what the answer would be.

"Nope" Jack answered, confirming Hiccup's suspicions and making him sigh. He was kind of starting to get used to not knowing anything that happened around him.

"Thes looks like th' forests ay mah land" Merida noticed. Jack shook his head.

"It does look like your land, but it's not it."

"Hoo can ye tell?"

"I can't, I'm just pretty sure it isn't because this forest is way deeper than those of your land. And drier. Your land is quite the humid spot."

"Ah don't recognize any ay it, sae Ah guess yer right" the redhead shrugged.

"But what are we going to do?" Rapunzel asked with worry. "We don't have any idea where we are, nor we do have shelter or food or water or… nothing at all!"

"That's what we need tae take care ay!" Merida's resolution popped in again. "Ah'll fin' some food an' water!" she pointed at Hiccup with her bow, with a gaze in her eyes that showed she wouldn't accept any objections. "Ye fin' us shelter!" she then pointed at Rapunzel. "Ye collect wood fur a fire! An' ye!" she finally pointed at Jack. "Ye go fly aroond tae fin' out whaur th' heck we aur!"

"At your service, my captain!" Jack did the military salute and commanded the wind to fly him around the area. Rapunzel quickly ran off into the woods, anxious to make a good impression on the strong, brave Merida. And also anxious for a fire, yeah, she could use a fire because it was getting really cold. And dark. And she didn't really quite like the dark.

As for Hiccup, he opened his mouth to say something at first, but quickly shut it when Merida shot a glance at him. It was definitely best not to make her angry. And off he went, with Toothless following him closely, even though he had no idea what he was supposed to find right in the middle of nowhere, in a wood far from mountains where there would _at least _be caves they could shelter in. He kicked some stones as he walked, mumbling things about Merida that sounded like "who does she think she is to order me around?". Besides, she hadn't chosen the one for this task really well. He definitely wasn't adequate to build any sort of cottage or hut because of his kind of a fishbone complexion (nor was he up to physical work when he was so mentally and emotionally exhausted, nope, no way), and it wasn't like he would find one right there and then as if it was especially put there for them or anything…

Or was it?

Rapunzel, meanwhile, soon found out that it actually wasn't all that easy to find wood… in that wood. The ground was covered in grass and the sticks and branches scattered all over it were _way _too small to use in a fire. No matter how much he looked, she wasn't able to find any suitable ones… And _of course_ the branches of the trees were too high up to reach, and even if she reached, she surely couldn't break them off because they were really thick. Great. Just lovely. This unsuccessful pursuit of wood continued for quite a while with the help of tiny Pascal, who was also unable to find anything, until she badly wished she had an axe. Now, she didn't know if she'd use it to chop off trees or to chop off her own head. That's how frustrated she felt. She did want to befriend Merida, and she was sure that coming back empty-handed wouldn't exactly make Merida friendly towards her. She sat on the ground and hugged her own legs, feeling sad and frustrated. Couldn't she even gather wood for a fire? Wow, didn't she feel useless at that moment.

"Dwelling in self-pity?"

She jumped when she heard that voice, and sighed in relief when she saw it was Jack.

"Jack, you scared me!"

"Next time you decide to hold a pity party, I would love to be invited" he smiled, and kneeled beside her. "I'm pretty good at cheering up pity parties." Pascal didn't seem to like the spirit's proximity and climbed up to Rapunzel's head, glaring at him. When Jack winked at the chameleon, it just sticked its tongue out at him. "Wow, I don't think your lizard likes me much."

"Of course he won't if you keep calling him that. He's a chameleon" Rapunzel gave him a tiny smile, then sighed. "I… I just can't find any wood for the fire."

"Oh, my, can't find wood, what a drama!" Jack pretended to be shocked and then to faint, which made her laugh. "Seriously, if you're always going to get this upset over things like this…"

"That's not really what's making me upset" she cut him off, and played with her hair as she sighed, getting lost in thought for a moment. "I just… I really want to be Merida's friend. I've never had a female friend before… well, I've never had any friends at that. And I'm afraid she won't like me. So I thought, maybe I would make a good impression on her if… well, if I did good on this." Rapunzel let go of her hair and looked at the ground sadly. "I guess I can't even do such a simple thing."

"Well _now_ you're dwelling in self-pity" Jack patted her shoulder. "It's not always possible to gather wood for fire" he chuckled. "I'm sure Merida won't yell at you. Not too much, anyway. I think she likes you, actually."

"You do!?" Rapunzel's eyes lit up with hope, which made Jack chuckle. Indeed she was just like a little girl.

"Yep. Just be yourself and I'm sure you'll be best friends in a short while."

"Thanks Jack!" she chirped, quickly getting up. "You're a good boy!"

"Oh, how it shows that you don't know me well…" Jack laughed heartily.

"Is that so?" she smiled. "I'd like to get to know you better, then. Maybe we can be friends too?"

Jack raised his eyebrow and his lips curved in a lopsided smile. "Does that imply that you like me?"

"Of course I like you!" she protested, and Jack's eyes opened wide in surprise. "Why else would I want to be your friend?" Rapunzel crossed her arms and stared at him, unaware of the innocence in her words. Jack sighed in relief when he realized she didn't mean it the same way as him, and laughed.

"Of course, how silly of me" dang, she really was like a little girl, wasn't she? She had him scared for a moment. Well, it wasn't like he wouldn't want a girl as beautiful as her falling for him, but still, it was a bit too soon for that… right?

"Rapunzel! Aur ye aroond!?" a powerful female voice called out. Rapunzel immediately identified it as Merida's.

"Yeah, over here!" Rapunzel answered, looking for the redhead among the trees. They encountered after a short while.

"Ah, yoo're both haur! Come, looks like Hiccup has foond us somethin'!"

"Okay!" Rapunzel nodded, and she and Jack started following Merida through the woods. "Oh, and Merida?" Rapunzel cleared her throat and her cheeks became red in embarrassment.

"Yeah?"

"I… um… I couldn't find any wood for the fire" she twiddled her fingers in nervousness, awaiting her reaction.

"Oh!" Merida shrugged it off. "That's alrecht. Don't worry about it. Ah cooldnae fin' any animals or rivers either" she gave Rapunzel a smile. "Bein' in th' woods is difficult at first."

Rapunzel nodded at that, and she turned to Jack with very big and glimmering eyes, as if that was the best thing she could have heard in this world. Jack chuckled and gave her a thumbs up as they walked to where Hiccup was awaiting them.

"Finally! Come over here, look!" Hiccup motioned for them to come near him and then pointed at… a house?

Well, it couldn't exactly be called a house, since all that could be seen of it was a door and a little bit of the stone wall. But that _was_ a door, and a door definitely meant that there was somebody living there.

"That has to be the strangest house I've seen yet" Jack commented. "And I've seen quite a lot."

"There's somebody living in here! We can ask them for food and shelter!" Rapunzel gladly chirped.

"Well, somebody will have to knock on the door… Merida, volunteer?" Jack asked, looking at her. Merida huffed.

"Fine, if yoo're too much ay a pussy tae dae it yerself, Ah'll go" the three others watched as she walked up to the door and knocked on it. "Hello?" she called. There was no response, so she knocked stronger. "HELLO!" she yelled.

"We shouldn't have sent her, right?" Hiccup sighed, watching as Merida's impatience grew bigger. For a moment, he feared she'd just kick the door open.

The redhead, however, did not do such thing. She huffed, grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. She was astonished to find lots of wood-carved dolls hanging from the ceiling and covering the walls and tables. She could tell they were all hand made, and some were quite pretty, but they were kind of freaking her out. There were many carvings that represented bears doing… well, things. Merida couldn't tell what.

"You can get anything you like" an old voice startled her, making her jump and hit her head against the dolls hanging from the celing. An old woman was there (was she there before? Merida could have sworn she wasn't), sitting on a wooden chair, hand-carving a wooden doll on a wooden table. "We have 50% discount in all of the stock. Feast yourself!"

Merida frowned, weirded out by the old woman's sudden appearance and all of the strange wood carvings. "Ah… Ah wasnae plannin' on buyin' anythin'… Actually, me an' mah friends need help!"

"Hm?" the old woman got up from her chair. "Sorry, sorry, this is not a hotel, dear. Now, if you're not going to purchase anything, go away" she began tapping Merida's back, pushing her towards the door.

"Hey! Does th' word solidarity tell ye anythin'? Ye know, BASIC HUMAN VALUES?"

"Uh, Merida? Everything alright over here?" Hiccup suddenly showed up at the door, not before making sure Toothless was okay and hidden up on the trees.

"Looks like she's already managed to kick herself out" Jack pointed out, snorting. Merida gave him a death glare.

"Oh! How many dolls!" Rapunzel observed, peeking through the door to see better. The old woman gave her a satisfied smile.

"I know, right? But if you don't want to buy any I'm afraid I can't help you with anything. This isn't a charity! Now, go go go!"

"Go go go!" a croaky voice repeated, making all of them jump. Then they noticed the crow sitting on the ceilings. "Go away and never come back!"

"Did that crow just…?" Rapunzel began to ask, and the old woman promptly cut her off.

"Oh, this voice of mine is getting so old!" she cleared her throat. As she did that, a broom moved by itself to hit the crow, who squawked angrily in response. Merida gasped and pointed at the broom.

"TH' BROOM IS MOVIN'!"

"NO IT'S NOT!" the old woman countered. Jack stared at her in suspicion.

"Hey, guys, doesn't this woman look a lot like a witch to you?"

"Well… the… the flying broom and the talking crow support your point" Hiccup gulped.

"Ugh!" the old lady gave up in exasperation. She was not in the mood for hiding anymore. "Fine! Yes, yes I am a witch! A retired one!"

"A… a bad one?" Rapunzel asked, grabbing her frying pan tightly just in case. The witch laughed.

"Depends on the payment, dear."

"Witch or nae witch, we still need food an' shelter fur th' night!" Merida intervened, very decidedly taking something off her neck. "Haur!" she handed the witch a beautiful pendant with a symbol carved into it. Rapunzel gasped.

"It's so pretty! Merida, why are you…?"

"She wants us tae buy somethin' reit? Well Aam buyin' yer entire stock with thes!" the witch grabbed the pendant from her hands and inspected it closely. Merida continued "It was mah mother's. It's been in mah family fur generations, sae it shood be able tae buy yer entire shop an' even more!"

"Merida!" Rapunzel exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Merida, I… are you sure about this?" Hiccup asked, putting a hand over her shoulder. She shook him off.

"Of course Ah am! Ah don't need 'at!"

The witch's eyes glimmered in excitement. "Well well if I didn't get lucky today! Of course I did!" she cheered, kissing the pendant and saving it close to herself.

"But in exchange!" Merida interrupted the woman's celebrations. "In exchange we want food an' shelter fur tonecht."

The witch glared at her, but begrudgingly accepted.

"Don't worry, we'll be gone by tomorrow" she replied, seeing how not enthusiastic the woman was.

The dinner they had wasn't large, but it was enough to fill their hungry stomachs and calm their thirst. Hiccup managed to sneak out and leave Toothless some food, too. Some pillows and blankets were spread through the hut's floor and there the four teens fell asleep, tired after the day filled with emotions. No, not the four. One of them was awake.

"Can't sleep?" the witch asked, approaching her. Rapunzel sighed and sat up on her improvised bed.

"I… there was something I wanted to ask you" she said, hesitantly.

"Well go ahead. We have all night" the witch chuckled as her crow landed on her shoulder.

"You're a witch, right?" Rapunzel asked, and the old woman nodded. "Then… could you give us a spell?"

"Oh, no no no, I don't do spells anymore. I'm retired!"

"Please!" Rapunzel begged, taking the witch's hand between hers. "I… I've never had any friends like this before… I really want us to get along, but… we're so different from each other… I wish we could understand each other better" she bit her lower lip. "Please?" her puppy eyes somehow managed to convince the witch. That face was certainly hard to say no to.

"Ugh! Alright! Whatever! Only because you've bought my entire stock. But!" her wrinkly finger pointed straight at Rapunzel's face in warning. "I won't take any responsibility for anything that might go wrong. Now go to bed, child! I'll cast the spell while you all are asleep."

Rapunzel happily giggled and repeatedly thanked the old witch as she rushed off to bed. Once they were all soundly asleep, the witch smiled to herself.

"Chosen by the Moon are we? And you want a spell to get along? I've been waiting for a chance to use this" she chuckled, picking a spray bottle out of a shelf. "And I can mess with Man in Moon at the same time. What a chance! What a chance!" she crooned, spraying the mysterious liquid over the sleeping and deliciously unaware teenagers.

_**That's that for now. Hope you guys liked it, and as always, feel free to leave any suggestions or comments or critiques or whatever. I wanna improve as much as possible, you know! See you soon!**_


	9. Chapter 8: Confusion

_**Hello everyone, I'm back with a new chapter for you all :D I'm so glad that you guys are actually liking my stuff, you have no idea. Well, these next two chapters are going to be a bit... confusing. You'll know what I mean soon enough. Okay, let's get on with it!**_

Jack woke up that morning feeling weird. He groaned and yawned, rubbing his eyes to get the sleepiness off of him. He didn't need to sleep, of course, but last night he was so utterly tired of going through portals, arguing with the Guardians, flying around and even more arguing with Merida, that he just felt he needed to get his mind off of everything for some hours. He stretched his arms and touched the ground beside him, looking for his staff, but his hands couldn't feel the wooden stick. Weird, he remembered leaving it right beside him before falling asleep. He opened his eyes, blinking to get used to the daylight entering through the window, and was surprised to find out that the shop, the night before filled to the very top with wooden dolls and carvings, was now completely empty. He looked around him, feeling his head strangely heavy. He blamed it on sleep still creeping up on him, and looked around him to find his staff. Instead, he found a small chameleon sleeping on a frying pan right by his side. What was Rapunzel's lizard even doing beside him? It was plain to see that the little one didn't like him quite a lot… He tried to get up when he noticed a strange bulge on his chest that wasn't there before. Wait… _since when was he wearing a purple dress?_

He let out a scream as he backed off on his toes and rubbed his eyes, but the vision wouldn't go away. In fact, he tripped over a huge amount of blond hair that was _growing out of his head_. The scream that came out this time was louder, and when he noticed his high-pitched voice he covered his mouth with his hands in terror. The others woke up and rubbed their eyes, groaning their complaints about the noise he was making.

"Jest what on Earth is wi' all thes stooshie!?" Hiccup spoke with a very strong accent that he didn't have, but sounded very familiar… He yelped when he heard himself talk, and stared at his own body in astonishment for a second. Then he screamed louder than Jack himself. "WHAT DOES THES E'EN MEAN!?"

"Come on, guys, just calm down a little… eh?" Merida also stopped dead on her tracks as she stared at her own body in disbelief. "Wh-what the hell…" Hearing her voice without her strong accent was... weird, indeed.

Another scream echoed through the house, but this one was quite manly and low-pitched, in a voice they recognized as Jack's. But that wasn't Jack… Jack was looking at _himself_ while he was stuck on a feminine body that obviously _was not his_.

"WHY AM I JACK?" Jack, or more exactly Jack's body screamed as he trembled in shock.

"WHY AM I NOT ME!?" Merida's voice yelled as she pointed at Hiccup.

"WHAT TH' HELL IS HAPPENIN'!?" Hiccup's voice screamed as he frantically tugged his hair.

"LET'S CALM DOWN FOR A SECOND!" Jack intervened with his high pitched voice that sounded a lot like Rapunzel's… "Wait. If I'm not in my body... WHO ARE YOU!?" he yelled, pointing at… well, at himself.

"I'M RAPUNZEL! WHO ARE YOU!?" Rapunzel responded, pointing at herself.

"I'M JACK!" Jack answered, but saying that with Rapunzel's voice just sounded wrong.

"But then… Merida?" Merida asked to Hiccup. "Why are you in my body!?" Hiccup, in Merida's body and voice, was starting to really freak out.

"Hiccup!? Is 'at ye!?" Hiccup said, his recently acquired strong accent proving who he _actually _was. Inside the Viking's body, Merida was definitely not happy with the situation, either.

"Are you seriously telling me that our bodies have been _switched_!?" Jack groaned in Rapunzel's voice. "Oh damn. This is the most cliche of all cliches."

"Ye cannae be serioos!" Merida spoke, well, it was Hiccup who spoke, but it was Merida who was really speaking… this is becoming a mess.

"This is weird. This is too weird to process!" Hiccup tugged his new red, wild, tangled hair in frustration. "What did I ever do for this to happen to me!?"

"I'M SO FREAKING COLD!" Rapunzel yelled from Jack's body, trembling. "Jack, why are you so cold!?"

"Does the term 'winter spirit' tell you anything?" Jack sarcastically replied, but Rapunzel's high and melodic voice even made it sound _nice_. "There's absolutely NO way I'm getting used to this…"

"Do you think it's any easier for me!?" Hiccup made a desperate expression appear in Merida's face, with his fingers stuck in the knots of the fiery red hair.

"Well it's nae very nice either fur me!" Merida hissed at him, managing to give one of her deadly glares using Hiccup's face.

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Ah, uh, okay, I think we should just calm down and…" Rapunzel said, picking up Jack's staff. The wood froze at the touch of her fingers, and she stared at the small patterns the ice made in awe.

"There's no way we can calm down like this!" she heard her own voice reply, and saw Jack (within her body, of course) trying to pick up as much as he could of her blond hair in his arms. "Heck, Rapunzel, how can you even _walk_?!"

She awkwardly giggled and made a gesture as to put a lock of her hair behind her ear, but she miserably failed, since her hair was now short, messy and white. "You just have to get used to it."

"Ah bet 'at damned witch did thes tae us!" Merida protested, well, Hiccup protested, but it wasn't actually Hiccup, but Merida. Damn this is complicated.

"Uh…" Rapunzel suddenly realized that this could have been her fault. Well, crap.

"It is possible… she did say she was retired, though…" Hiccup said, thoughtfully. It was so strange to see Merida being thoughtful and reflexive. So out of character.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with boobs" Jack complained, and Rapunzel shrieked (with Jack's voice, which was a very funny thing to hear) and rushed to hit him (or more likely herself) on the head with Jack's staff, causing strands of the blond hair to freeze. "OW! Are you nuts!?" he yelled, covering Rapunzel's head with Rapunzel's hands. "You could have _frozen_ me!"

"At least that way you wouldn't look at… AT THAT!" Rapunzel shrieked, and Jack's voice made it sound hilarious. And besides, Jack Frost's face turning bright red was a thing you see once in a lifetime.

"What? I didn't LOOK!" Jack got Rapunzel's face to turn red as well. "What kind of pervert do you take me for!?"

Merida was laughing her ass off, with Hiccup's laugh, that is, until she realized that she also had new parts that were… different from the ones she was born with. Let's say it that way, yeah. And she made Hiccup's face become a mixture of disgust and horror.

"AH CANNAE STAY LIKE THES!" she frantically began searching the cottage, tripping over Hiccup's big furry boots, but there was nothing to search in… it was completely empty. "WHAUR IS TH' DAMNED WITCH!? CHANGE US BACK OR AH WILL… END YE!" she screamed, but Hiccup's voice just wouldn't sound menacing, no matter how hard she tried. "OCH!" she grunted, and kicked a bottle that was left on the ground. Suddenly, the bottle exploded, releasing a huge cloud of smoke.

"Merida, just what the hell did you do?" Jack asked, but Rapunzel's voice made everything sound so _kind_ and _innocent_ it was making him nervous.

When their eyes could make out something from the smoke, they met with the witch's face. It wasn't her in person, though; it was like some kind of hologram made out of the smoke that surrounded them. The witch spoke like this:

"I see you've finally kicked the bottle out of anger and frustration. Just as I predicted!" she laughed. "Anyways, this isn't actually me, this is a message I left for you. As you might be able to tell, I put a spell on you all. It can be reversed, but for that, you will have to solve a riddle."

"Are you serious?" it was Merida's voice and body who spoke, but it was Hiccup inside it who was annoyed (the real Merida was just plain furious). A witch put a spell on them and now they were being forced to solve a riddle to reverse it? Ridiculous. Absolutely and utterly preposterous. Nonsensical. Idiotic. But true.

"Listen carefully, kiddos. The riddle goes like this:

_If your body you wish to get back_

_You must put yourself aside_

_And try to understand._"

"… That's the lamest riddle. Ever." Jack crossed Rapunzel's arms and raised one of her eyebrows, then sighed. "How does this voice make everything sound so nice?" he mumbled under his breath.

"So that's it for me. Oh, and if you don't solve the riddle by the third dawn after today… you'll be stuck like this forever!" she laughed. "Quite the inconvenience. Witch, out!" and with that, the image vanished, and the smoke slowly disappeared.

"Great. Just perfectly, absolutely great" Merida's voice was weird to hear without her accent and with Hiccup's natural pessimism carved into it. But it is understandable that their mood wasn't at its best right then.

"Well… there's nothing else we can do" Jack's voice said. Rapunzel was speaking with a certain guiltiness. It was no doubt this was her fault, but… it wasn't what she asked for! "We must try our best to undo the spell!"

"A riddle that lame shouldn't be that difficult to solve…" Jack sighed with Rapunzel's mellow voice. "For now, let's get out of here, yeah?"

"Ah guess" Merida shrugged and then uncomfortably walked to the door. Hiccup's attire really wasn't comfortable to move with.

Ah, how much of a nuisance this new situation would be…

_**That's that for now! What did you think? Is it too confusing? Tell me if there's any way you think I can narrate the current situation in a better, less confusing way. Tell me anything, really. I wanna know what you guys think! So, as always, thanks for all your support, and see you next week :3**_


	10. Chapter 9: Getting used to it

_**Hello y'all! Wow am I having a writer's block right now... but I still have a few chapters written so there shouldn't be a problem with uploading on time... YET.**_

_**So yeah here you go with chapter 9 ~ Enjoy the hell out of it!**_

Once they were outside, Toothless approached "Hiccup" directly, but when he felt Merida's scent, he retreated and growled.

"Toothless, calm down! I'm right here!" the dragon couldn't believe that the red headed girl was now his trainer. He did smell him in that body, though, so the dragon simply sat by his side and accepted the new situation as it was. Too much for a dragon to bother in processing, I guess.

And so, the four teenagers sat on the grass, wondering what to do next.

"Aam nae stayin' like thes forever, that's fur sure" the strong Highlander stuck in a Viking's body stated.

"That's certainly not the plan" Merida heard her own voice replying. It was certainly weird to hear it without an accent and sounding so kind and thoughtful, but that was just how Hiccup made it sound. "But… I have no idea what the plan is, either."

"Since we're stuck this way, maybe we should just… try and get used to it" Rapunzel shyly suggested. It was nothing but strange to see and hear "Jack" acting so lady like and so shyly and moderately.

"Get used to it? Are you kidding me?" the real Jack snapped. Of course. "I'm stuck with a female body, with a shit ton of hair, with boobs and without powers. How am I supposed to get used to it?"

"The same way I do, Jack" this time, Rapunzel's reply was harsh, and Jack had to shut his mouth. He obviously hadn't considered that what he was coping with right now was the same thing Rapunzel coped with every single day of her life. And then, the situation got a whole new meaning to them.

"Hiccup, what ur ye doin'?" Merida saw her own body fidgeting and unable to stay still.

"I don't know!" the boy inside her body replied. "I just… I feel so full of energy, I need to do something!" he suddenly got up and began steadily jumping. "Aaaaah… I just can't stay still!"

"But stayin' still is what ye like tae do th' most…" Merida felt baffled by seeing herself acting so… unlike herself. Merida herself found out that she actually felt like staying still and just drawing something or petting Toothless. "Why do Ah feel sae… serene?"

"I want to freeze something" Rapunzel suddenly declared, and twirled Jack's staff as if it was some sort of magic wand.

"H-hey, be careful with that!" Jack warned her, getting out of her reach just in case.

"For now, we should focus on solving the riddle" Hiccup said as he jumped in place, almost tripping with Merida's long dress.

"Yeah. Any ideas on that?" Jack asked, playing with Rapunzel's frying pan.

"Nope" was the general response.

"I had a feeling" Jack smiled sarcastically. That expression looked strange in Rapunzel's face, always so innocent.

"While we solve that riddle" Rapunzel intervened, passing Jack's staff from one hand to the other. "we should see this as a chance to understand each other. I do think the riddle could be headed that way."

Hiccup thought about it for a moment (still frantically moving in place) and nodded. "You have a point. _You must put yourself aside and try to understand_… sounds like we need to be more… empathic."

"I am empathic!" Jack protested, receiving sarcastical glares in response. "Well… whatever. Let's move. It's obvious that the witch isn't coming back, and we can't stay here forever."

"Except that we don't know where the heck we are yet" Hiccup replied from Merida's body.

"Maybe you don't, but I do" Jack said, very full of himself, and majestically walked forward. "Follow me, ladies and gentlemen, or… whatever it is we are now."

"Cannae we jest go flyin'?" Merida asked. She still was walking uncomfortably in Hiccup's heavy boots.

"Well, you see, Rapunzel is now in my body and she doesn't know the way" Jack answered, pointing at Rapunzel (his own body) and then at him, enclosed in Rapunzel's body. "And I'm quite sure that the dragon is not very willing to accept you as its new rider."

He was right, obviously. Toothless still wouldn't let Merida ride him (Merida or anyone else for that matter) and it was quite obvious that Hiccup couldn't ride him while wearing that extremely uncomfortable dress.

And so, off they went. They walked through the forest for some hours while Toothless flew the sky above them; they weren't exactly in a hurry, so they decided to walk more slowly so they wouldn't need to stop to rest in a longer time. While they walked, they argued. It was becoming kinda like a hobby to them, or so it seemed. They argued over the smallest things.

"Ugh, Rapunzel, your hair is constantly getting on the way!" Jack complained.

"Well, your body is constantly incredibly cold! It's a miracle I haven't frozen by now!"

"Hiccup, yer boots are makin' me nervous!" Merida groaned, and suddenly took them off and threw them away.

"AH! Why did you do that!?" Hiccup quickly went to fetch them, tripped over the long dress and fell right on his face. "Ugh, this is why I'm not into long dresses…"

"Are you okay, Hiccup?" Rapunzel helped him up, but her now cold touch made him shudder.

"Yeah, thanks" Hiccup handed the boots over to his own body, which was crossing its arms and pouting. "Now, Merida, be so kind as to put them back on…"

"Aam nae goin' tae!" she was adamant in her refusal. "They're uncomfortable an' Ah can barely walk in 'em!"

"But you can't just throw them away! Besides, if you walk like that, I'll have my feet sore when I get back in my body!"

Yeah, there you have a glimpse of their whole walk. They kept on walking, arguing for one thing and another, even when they got out of the forest. They mostly discussed ways to get back to their own bodies, but always ended up criticizing their new state, and of course, the original owner of the criticized body would get offended and criticize their newly acquired body, and everything would get stuck in an infinite loop. So, of course, Rapunzel just couldn't let it go on. She didn't know how to stop them, though. They really were stubborn.

They were now in a wide field, crossed by a river that got lost back inside the forest. Upon seeing the river, Rapunzel decided that would be a good chance to test out her newly acquired winter spirit powers. And so she walked towards the running water, with the other three following her behind, very upset about something… again. The girl trapped inside a mischievous winter spirit's body touched the water with the staff she was carrying, and her eyes (originally green, but now icy blue) watched in awe as the liquid froze as soon as it was touched. Ice created beautiful and intrincate patterns, expanding through the river as she moved the staff along the flow. How did Jack manage not to spend hours staring at the wonderful things he was able to do with that wand? She didn't realize, but the other three had stopped arguing and were now watching her, Hiccup and Merida in amazement and Jack in amusement. Seeing her (well, himself) so mesmerized with something so normal for him as freezing water, made him think. He hadn't worn such an amazed and filled with wonder expression in forever… it was strange, but his face seemed happy. And he realized he hadn't been happy in a long time.

"Ummm, Rapunzel" he said, running a hand through his now blond and extremely long hair. "Can you, um, teach me the song? The one you use to, you know, lit up your hair?"

"Oh?" she smiled, and the smile turned out lopsided, like Jack's smile always was. "Well, why not?"

And she sang, slowly, to make sure he'd remember the lyrics. Jack's voice wasn't really fitted for singing, but Rapunzel managed to harmonize it just enough for it to sound good. She sang it twice for them, and Jack thought he was ready to try it out. But of course, it turned out that… well, Rapunzel's voice _was_ melodious and fitted to sing, but Jack just _couldn't_ sing. He did remember the lyrics, though, and he tried his best. Merida covered her ears (not really hers, but Hiccup's) and faked an expression of extreme suffering, but Rapunzel clapped for his effort and Hiccup just stared, because Jack, however good or bad he may sing, had managed to lit up Rapunzel's hair. He watched in utter wonder as all the strands of hair around him lit up and shone beautifully. Merida was so amazed that she made Hiccup's mouth hung open for an entire minute without fidgeting. It was just too incredible not to fall in amazement at its sight.

"It's so… pretty" Jack breathed. Rapunzel smiled at that.

"Well, not having powers doesn't mean we can't enjoy ourselves too… right?" Hiccup smiled, still fidgeting from time to time, unsettled. It was the first time in forever he'd felt this active, wanting to do something to waste all of that unused energy on. It felt good… for once.

"Heh! Aam always up tae enjoy mahself!" Merida smiled too. Being Hiccup wasn't so bad, actually. She was sure it had been really long since she'd last felt so willing to just merge in her own thoughts. "But yer dragon won't lemme ride him" she snorted, pointing at Toothless, who stuck his tongue out at her.

"Yeah, well… sorry about that" Hiccup managed to make Merida's smile look goofy, as his own was.

"It's sae weird tae be talkin' tae mahself" Merida laughed.

"I know, right?" Rapunzel giggled. Jack's voice sounded so feminine when giggling, it was hilarious.

"Hey, Hiccup, now that you're inside Merida's body, you shouldn't be as much of a wimp as you were before" Jack smiled, pointing Rapunzel's frying pan at the Viking.

"Jack!" Rapunzel scolded him. It was definitely weird to be scolded by his own voice.

"What? It's true! Now he should be able of doing really awesome things with archery and stuffs!"

"Huh" Hiccup examined Merida's bow, trying it out on his hands. Normally, he wouldn't even bother in trying, but since he was inside Merida's body, maybe her fantastic skills would be transferred to him… It was worth a shot.

"Try tae hit 'at tree over there" Merida said, pointing at a tree a little separated from the rest of the forest. "Shood be an easy targit."

Hiccup sighed and readied an arrow to shoot. He concentrated and tried to aim the best he could. But…

"My, my, if it isn't the chosen ones. _How pleasant_!" The voice startled Hiccup, and the arrow he unconsciously loosened fell and got lost in the waters of the river.

The voice seemed to echo all over their heads, and dark sand surrounded them. Toothless crouched, fiercely growling and looking everywhere, trying to find the source of the voice. The four teens cooped up in a circle, back against back; they seemed ready to attack, but actually they were too terrified to even try.

_**Ta-da, there it is! Ooooh, did I leave a cliffhanger or something? My bad ~ See ya soon!**_


	11. Chapter 10: Evil

_****__'Sup? Omfg this writer's block is beginning to seriously annoy me. I need to write a few chapters about their journey to Corona but I'm absolutely uninspired and college starts this monday ;A; I'm so nervous because FIRST YEAR, NEWBIE TO EVERYTHING, WILL GET LOST EVERYWHERE and etcetera... and all this just doesn't help to inspire me._

_****__Well whatevs, have chapter 10 and you better enjoy it you little adorable things._

"What… is that?" Rapunzel whispered, her voice shaky and her hands, holding the staff, even shakier. Well, they were Jack's voice and hands, but it was Rapunzel who was shaking.

"And no other than Jack Frost! What a _pleasant_ surprise" a shadow stepped out from the black sand, with glowy yellow eyes and a bright, wicked white smile. A man, all grey and black except for eyes and teeth, finally showed himself. He was the incarnation of every nightmare, every fear, everything dark… One who loathed dreams and everything bright in this world.

"Pitch Black" Jack spat. But it was Rapunzel who spoke. This seemed to startle Pitch, who looked at him (her) in confusion. But then, he understood.

"Huh… Oh, don't tell me. Your bodies have been switched!" he started laughing. "I recognize the spell. Oh, how convenient this is, right?" he smiled. This constant smile was beginning to _really_ creep them out. Toothless menacingly stared at him, bt he didn't seem to fretch at the sight of the dragon. Probably because he knew that the animal wouldn't attack him first; Toothless was scared, too.

"Who th' heck are ye!?" Merida violently asked, in a defensive position. It was almost laughable how Hiccup's weak body was acting so strong, and of course, Pitch laughed.

"I am sure you might have heard of me… or maybe not, since your DEAREST Man in Moon has forced me into oblivion for the past… what, thousand years?" he spat, his eyes now glowing with a dangerous light. "I am Pitch Black, but you will probably know me best as… the Boogeyman."

Rapunzel tried her best not to scream out loud. All of the stories she'd read in books back in the tower about the man who terrified children, bringing them awful nightmares during the night, the embodiment of fear… _they were all true_. She had been _so frightened_ of this man. Sometimes at night, she would stay awake as long as her eyes were able to remain open because of the fear of seeing this man appear from under the bed or behind the furniture… and now he was there, materializing right in front of her eyes. Pascal had been with her all along and he still was with her, but even though he provided moral support, he wouldn't be a great help against that man. She could barely prevent herself from fainting right there and then. Her eyes (Jack's eyes, actually) were wide open in horror and her entire body (more like Jack's body) was shaking uncontrollably. Even if she needed to run for her life, she couldn't move a single finger.

"What do you want!?" Jack asked, firmly grasping Rapunzel's frying pan. He may not be used to that body and he may miss his powers, but he was not going down without a fight, if Pitch did want one. He did feel quite helpless, and he hated that. Besides, all that hair was making him extremely uncomfortable. That wouldn't help him much, either. And he understood how Rapunzel must've been feeling having to carry all that hair around and feeling helpless before the danger, since the only power she had could only serve her of so much. "We have nothing to do with you!" he added, aggresively.

I guess you've noticed Hiccup being strangely quiet. Well, the reason for it is because he already had enough work trying to keep the bow and arrow he was holding steady while his knees were trembling like crazy. Thankfully, Merida's long dress concealed that pretty well. Also… not like he really felt like talking to that man. His dark aura did scare him. He had the feeling he could really harm them if he wanted to, and that was not something he'd want to try out. Even when he felt stronger, he… he was so afraid. Was Merida this afraid when she faced danger, too?

As for Merida, she was definitely more uncomfortable in that body than ever. She knew that Hiccup's muscles wouldn't be much of a help in a fight, and she hated feeling weak. On the other hand, the Viking _did_ have a dragon, but said dragon refused to let her order him around… Merida knew that if a fight would take place, she couldn't be reallyhelpful, and she despised herself for that. While thinking so, it occurred to her that maybe Hiccup felt the same way about himself… but unlike her, he did belong inside that body, and his weaknesses were something he'd have to deal with through all his life. Aaaaand she suddenly felt really bad for him. Great.

"Oh, you're so very wrong, Jack" Pitch had already guessed who was in Rapunzel's body, and his mocking smile was making Jack's blood boil. "You _have_ something to do with me. After all, you have been chosen to defeat me… haven't you?"

"We'll fight ye if we have tae!" Merida snapped. Even if she couldn't really be helpful, she wasn't going down that easily. Her blood was boiling and she was ready.

"Fight?" Pitch laughed. "Oh, no. I am afraid that's not quite what I want right now. I simply… wanted to meet the ones I was destined to face sooner or later" he smirked. "But worry not, child, for there will be a fight... and I will win."

"Oh, you think so?" Jack, enraged, jumped towards him and tried to hit him with Rapunzel's frying pan, but the Boogeyman simply vanished with a wicked laugh. The black sand began to vanish and the only thing remaining of the dark man was his voice, sending one last warning.

"We'll meet again soon, chosen ones. Very soon."

"... Is he gone?" Hiccup asked with a very feeble voice, seeing that Toothless had relaxed. Jack cursed under his breath, but nodded.

"He won't bother us anymore... for now."

"What does he want?" Rapunzel whimpered. It was strange but adorable to see "Jack" whimpering and trembling uncontrollably. "We didn't do anything to him!"

"Yeah, but if you can remember about yesterday, North _did _say we were chosen to fight him" Jack replied with bitterness in his voice.

"I don't want to fight" Rapunzel teared up, making Jack's face become that of an upset child. Tears started streaming down as she sobbed inside of a body that wasn't hers. "I just wanted to escape my tower and befriend you guys! I don't want a fight with that man!"

Rapunzel tried to show a strong will all the time so the others wouldn't think she was a scaredy cat, but... that had finally gotten to her. And the fact that she was crying made the others see that she really was terrified. Pascal tried to comfort her by lightly tapping her cheeks with his paws, but it wasn't really useful.

"Hey, Punzie, hey" it was Merida (inside Hiccup's body) who stepped up to comfort the weeping one. "Com'on, don't cry. We're wi' ye, see? We're friends noo, an' we willnae leave ye alone. Sae ye don't have tae be scared okay?" she smiled with Hiccup's goofy smile as she wiped the tears away. "We'll protect each other as well as we can."

Rapunzel sniffed, but she smiled back at her.

"Thank you, Merida."

"Is everything fine now?" Jack asked. His anger had finally vanished and he decided not to think of Pitch anymore. After all, the more he thought of him, the more power the Boogeyman would have over him. "Let's not think about that anymore, for now. I think we should keep going a little more, there's another extension of forests just ahead. We can set camp there."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. We'll be more vulnerable if we stay here" Hiccup noted, patting his dragon's neck. He didn't feel that uncomfortable in Merida's body anymore, but he felt guilty for not being able of confronting Pitch.

"Let's go then" Rapunzel had recovered and was almost back to her usual self. Almost.

And so they kept walking a couple miles, following the course of the river, until they reached the new forest they saw ahead of them. There, they managed to gather wood for a fire and catch some small fishes for dinner before the last traces of sunlight faded out. They also managed to make some kind of beds using leaves from the trees. There wouldn't be any blankets that night, though, but it was fine. The weather wasn't too cold at that time of the year, and they had a fire. They sat around it while Toothless cuddled up in a tree and Pascal found his small place in Rapunzel's improvised bed. Rapunzel herself sighed, thoughtful. No one was talking at the moment, and she felt she had to say something.

"Hey, um..." it was still weird to hear Jack's voice instead of hers when she talked. "Has any of you... got a dream?"

"Dreams?" Merida asked, playing around with the fur of Hiccup's boots.

"Yes, like... like something you want really badly and that you're pursuing. Something you just _need_ to do, no matter how silly it is."

"Ah have one" Merida nodded, and her expression (well, _Hiccup's_ expression) became determined. "Ah want tae have mah freedom. Ah want tae live mah own life, nae th' life someone else has planned out fur me. Ah want tae be able tae be mahself... An' Ah can dae 'at when Aam wi' ye guys" it was the first time they saw Merida (well they didn't really _see_ Merida but Hiccup, but you get what I mean, I hope) acting sort of shyly. "Yoo're th' first real friends Ah ever had."

"I think it's the same for all of us" Jack smiled.

"What about you, Jack?" Rapunzel asked.

"Me?" he hesitated, wondering if it was okay to open his heart to them. Upon seeing their friendly, smiling faces (even though seeing his own friendly, smiling face was extremely uncomfortable) he decided he wanted to tell them. "I want to be seen. I don't know if I've told you guys this, but... since I'm immortal, I've been around for many, many years, and no one... no one before you guys could see me. Not a single person. I was... so lonely, for so long. But you can all see me" he smiled. "So I'm not lonely anymore."

"Jack, you... you're immortal...right?" Rapunzel stuttered a little bit.

"Yeah."

"I... um... I think I am too."

"What!?" Rapunzel saw her own face get a priceless expression of utter surprise.

"I... I've been around for a really long time too. But I was always closed in a tower, so I had never come out before this... I saw everything around me changing, but I didn't. I'm still the same as the first day I can remember. I don't change, my hair doesn't grow..."

Saying that Jack was dumbfounded was an understatement. He did not only have three friends that were able to see him, he had an _immortal_ friend, no less. Just like him.

"Wow, Rapunzel, I... don't know what to say" he laughed. He was too happy to explain.

"It's weird, right? To find another the same as you" Rapunzel shyly smiled at herself.

"Hic, yoo're very silent. What dae ye dream aboot?" Merida asked... well, herself.

"I..." Hiccup began, thoughtful. "I've always been the underdog. I'm not what my father wanted, I'm not what a Viking is supposed to be... So I want to do something that will be remembered. To show everyone I'm not as useless as they think I am. I want to make my mark" he finished, and his words were clear and determined. He was definitely pursuing that. Understanding expressions appeared around him.

"I don't think you're useless, Hic" Rapunzel declared. "You're very intelligent, and besides, you tamed a dragon! An useless person would never be able to do that. I think you're great."

"We all do" Jack assured him, making Hiccup blush.

"Thanks, guys."

"It's only you left, Punz" Jack said. "What do you dream about?"

"I want to see the floating lights" Rapunzel's clear and quick response left them all surprised.

"What?" was the general question.

"Well, I... I was woken up by the Moon inside of a tower. I could go out, but I felt like the tower was the only safe place for me. Going outside... scared me" the rest nodded in understanding of her feelings. "During all the years I spent trapped inside it, I always saw these beautiful, floating lights through my window."

"Ye talkin' aboot th' stars?" Merida asked.

"No, no... I've studied the stars, they're always constant. But these lights... they only appear once a year, and always on the same day" she sighed, reminiscing about the beautiful lights. "I've always felt like they're special... I don't know why, but... but I really want to see them in person. Besides, seeing them in person meant having to go outside, and... deep down, I wanted to go outside, too. I yearned for freedom and to see the world... I just was too scared to go alone. But thanks to you guys I've been having the greatest time of my life lately" she smiled shyly. "That's why... this is all so special to me."

Jack stood thoughtful for a while there. He then looked up at the girl trapped inside his own body.

"I think I know what lights you're talking about. There's a kingdom a few weeks of traveling away from here. There, people send lanterns up in the sky. It's a reminder for the princess of the kingdom that died when she was very young. That's why they only release them once a year, in the day of the deceased princess' birthday" he explained, and saw his own blue eyes glimmering with Rapunzel's excitement.

"So that's what they are... lanterns" Rapunzel whispered. "The day they are released... I belive it's not too far... a few weeks at most."

"Hey, how about we go there and see them?" Hiccup suggested, and saw Rapunzel jump in surprise. "I mean, the kingdom is not that far from here, right? Just a few weeks of traveling and we could be there in time to see them. And it wouldn't harm us to spend some time hanging out with, you know, other actual humans" he chuckled. Rapunzel squealed, Jack's voice making it sound really funny.

"You mean it!? We can go!?"

"Sure!" Merida laughed. "It's gonnae be an adventure!"

"Tomorrow, we will start the journey there" Jack smiled. "Are you happy, Punz?"

"YES! OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!" she jumped and brought the three of them in a big group hug. She was nearly crying from all the happiness she felt. And the rest, they were all equally happy, because for the first time in many years...

They were not alone.


	12. Chapter 11: Oblivious

_**Hey guys! Wow, I'm thrilled that the creator of the video that inspired me to write this is actually reading it... and moreover, liking it! Well I mean I'm utterly amazed that anyone can read the stuff I write and like it at all. I'm really thankful to all of you who followed and favorited and reviewed, and also those who simply read this through. It's amazing knowing that people are enjoying this story and I'm really glad that it's so...**_

_**Anyway, enough blabbering. I brought you chapter 11!**_

The morning sunlight filtrated among the branches of the trees and caressed their sleeping faces. Hiccup was the first in waking up. He yawned and rubbed his eyes with his hands, expecting locks of the wild red hair to interrupt his vision. But nothing happened and he was able to see without obstacles once his eyes got used to the light. Strange. Maybe Merida's hair was actually behaving this morning. But when he got up, he realized he was no longer wearing a dress, but his own familiar attire, with his fur boots and his comfortable and oh so missed trousers. A gasp escaped his mouth, and the sound woke Merida up.

"Somethin' wrong, Hic?" she rubbed her eyes and blinked to get used to the light. "Wait... Yoo're nae me... Does 'at mean...?" she touched her head and found her copious amount of fiery red hair, and she squealed in delight. "Aam back!"

"What's with all the noise...? Huh?" Jack was the next in waking up and finding out he was back inside his body. He laughed in delight as he called the wind and flew around, enjoying having his powers back. "Punz! Rapunzel! Wake up, sleepyhead!" he blew some snowflakes on her face, and feeling the coldness, the girl frowned and opened her eyes.

"Hmm...?" Rapunzel hummed, slowly getting up and yawning. "What's that, Jack...?" she didn't look at herself again, though; she was looking at the real Jack. She realized she felt her head familiarly heavy, and her smile was wide and bright like the sun. "I'm myself again, right!?" she laughed, getting up and dancing in utter happiness. "Yes! We did it! We solved the witch's riddle!"

"Without even trying!" Jack pointed out, laughing heartily.

"Toothless! Come down, bud! I'm back!" the dragon flew down the tree he slept in at the call of his trainer, and carefully smelled him. The toothless grin he gave Hiccup was enough proof of his approval. "I'm glad to be back too, bud!" Hiccup laughed, hugging the dragon's neck.

Their laughter echoed through the forest, filling the entire place with glee. The forest didn't seem so big and gloomy after that.

"What dae ye say aboot some breakfast?" Merida smiled. "Punzie an' Ah can go gaither some berries while ye two get some water. Hoo is 'at?" without awaiting a response, she took Rapunzel's hand and led her inside the forest.

"Okay but don't go too far!" Hiccup advised as the girls left them behind.

"Hey, hey Punzie" a very excited Merida said, getting closer to Rapunzel. "What dae ye think about Hic and Jack?" she inquired in a very confidential tone.

"Oh?" the blonde found herself with no response. "I... why do you ask?"

"Com'on! Tell me!"

"Well... I think Hiccup is a little introvert, but very intelligent. And Jack... he's... well, he's Jack" she smiled. Merida raised one of her red eyebrows.

"Dae ye like Jack?" she asked, smiling. Rapunzel's cheeks quickly flushed red.

"Huh? Yeah, of course I do" Rapunzel seemed surprised. "Why wouldn't I like him? He's fun to be around."

Merida rolled her eyes. "That's nae what Ah meant... Hoo can ye be sae innocent?" she sighed and frowned slightly. "Ah meant if ye like, _like_ him. Ye know... romantically!"

"W-what!? No! I mean... I don't even know him enough for that!" seeing how hard she was blushing, Merida smiled naughtily.

"But ye dae find him attractife, don't ye?" the redhead raised her eyebrows and elbowed her softly, but repeatedly, making the blonde's face turn a darker shade of red.

"I-I... well I _might_ but that doesn't imply anything!" she protested, and Merida chuckled in satisfaction.

"Sure doesnae" she replied as she looked in some bushes for berries, but something in the tone of her voice was filled with sarcasm. Rapunzel frowned, but she soon smiled naughtily. She ruffled some bushes to see if she found berries.

"Well, and what about you and Hiccup?" Rapunzel casually asked. Merida flinched a little.

"What? Hiccup?"

"I saw how he looks at you. It's like he's never seen another girl before" she smiled broadly.

"Nonsense" Merida replied, brushing it off with a gesture of her hand. Rapunzel was disappointed she didn't get another reaction. She wanted to tease her as well... Oh well.

"Jack _is_ attractife though" Merida smiled. Rapunzel turned pink.

"Whatever, Meri!"

And so they managed to gather some berries and even some wild fruits for them to eat as breakfast in between constant teasing, secretive sentences and giggling.

"Don't pick any poisonoos berries while thinkin' ay Jack!" Merida cooed.

"I hope you don't get too distracted trying to look attractive for Hiccup" Rapunzel replied, and they both laughed.

"Ah like ye, ye know, Punzie?" Merida smiled. "Oh, can Ah call ye Punzie?"

"Of course!" Rapunzel's eyes shone with delight. "I like you too, Meri!"

Hiccup and Jack, meanwhile, had gathered water in a big canteen Hiccup happened to be carrying attached to Toothless' saddle.

"Hey, Hic" Jack said casually. "We're going to be traveling with Punz and Merida for quite a long time... What do you think?"

"What should I think?" the boy replied in surprise.

"Oh, I don't know, you tell me!" Jack looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "I saw how you look at Merida. Everytime she steps up and talks it's as if you've never seen a girl before!"

Hiccup's face flushed red, but he refused to admit that he _did_ stare at Merida sometimes. Jack laughed. "Come on, you can't deny it. Nothing escapes these blue orbs of truth..." he opened his eyes widely and stared at him intensely, making Hiccup laugh and lightly push him.

"And _so what_ if I did stare at her? I mean, you're constantly flirting with Rapunzel and I haven't said anything, have I?"

Jack laughed to that as he ran a hand through his messy white hair. "Rapunzel is worth the try, don't you think?" he shamelessly smiled.

"Yeah" Hiccup replied. "And Merida is worth staring at."

"Did Ah jest hear mah name?" Merida's voice came from among the trees as both girls came back.

"Not at all" Jack whistled, and winked at Hiccup, whose face quickly became red. "Wow, Hic, I think you and Punz should hold a competition on who blushes faster" Jack chuckled. "Would be hard to decide the winner, though..."

"Oh, stop that!" Rapunzel complained, throwing one of the berries at him.

After eating the berries they had gathered, they decided to get moving.

"It'll be faster if we go flying" Jack said. "I'm sure Toothless can carry two people with no sweat, and I'll take someone for a piggyback ride."

"Ah wannae ride Toothless!" Merida quickly said, but the dragon backed up and shook his head. "Och, com'on, why willnae ye let me?" she pouted. "Ah don't wannae ride Jack's back..."

"I could carry you in my arms like a princess if that's what you want, Meri" Jack flashed her his naughty, lopsided smile. Merida grunted.

"Ah will kick yer face if ye dae 'at."

"Ouch."

"Well, Rapunzel, are you up for a ride?" Hiccup said, inviting her to get up on Toothless' back.

"Okay!" the blonde smiled happily as Hiccup helped her up. She was _always_ up for a ride. (That... sounded... naughty, didn't it?)

"Careful where ye put yer hands, Frostie" Merida warned him as she got up on his back and Jack took hold of her legs.

"Do you honestly think I'd be interested in losing one of them?" Jack laughed.

The dragon and the spirit took off and started flying. The girls on top of them screamed in delight as they saw the land below become smaller and smaller.

"Merida, calm down a little or you're going to choke me!" Jack coughed, and the redhead loosened her grip a little... but not too much.

"This is amazing!" Rapunzel yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. Very safe.

"You guide the way, Jack!" Hiccup yelled across the air.

"Sure thing, if you can keep up!" Jack smiled devilishly and commanded the wind to fly them forward... really fast. Merida screamed as she held onto him as if it depended on her life... which it kinda did.

"ARE YE COMPLETELY NUTS UR WHAT?"

"Enjoy the ride, Meri!" the winter spirit simply laughed heartily.

But Hiccup and Rapunzel weren't left behind. Toothless was perfectly able to keep with the spirit's speed; in fact, he was glad he could spread his wings and use them at full capacity. He happily shot a flash of energy into the blue skies they were flying in. Rapunzel was laughing as she held onto Hiccup with one arm and caressed the white clouds beside them with the other. It felt amazing. Hiccup was also enjoying the flight; he was glad he got the time back at Berk to design that special wing for Toothless so the dragon could fly without his help. Toothless' movements were more free and he didn't have to pay attention so they wouldn't crash.

"Want to race?" Jack yelled at them.

"NO NO DON'T YE DARE DAE 'AT" Merida screamed in fright. Her eyes were teary and her hair was even more messy than normal due to the wind hitting her face.

"Come on! Don't tell me you're scared of a little race, Meri!"

"Bring it on, Frost" Hiccup smiled widely.

"Right, the goal is... um... let's say that village there!" Jack pointed his staff towards a small population a good distance away. "The first on getting to the forests surrounding it wins!"

"Okay!" Rapunzel said, and raised her hand. "Ready? One, two... THREE!"

As soon as she said three, both runners blasted at full speed. Toothless was definitely not letting a wee winter spirit win a powerful dragon like him! But Jack wasn't willing to lose, either. Rapunzel's screams of joy betrayed how much she was enjoying that. Merida's screams, on the other hand...

"AH SWEAR TAE GOD JACK IF AH SURVIFE THES AAM GOIN' TAE KILL YE" she was more afraid of the insane speed than of the flight itself, honestly.

They soon arrived to the forest, but Toothless was the first on landing over a tree and roaring happily. Jack landed on the floor beside the tree just a second after.

"Oh, damn it!" he complained, putting a very shocked Merida down. Once she recovered her stability, she started hitting Jack with her fists and yelling how much she loathed him for doing that. Jack defended himself by swiftly dodging the hits and laughing while he apologized.

"We should get some supplies on the village there" Hiccup interrupted them. "I don't know if we really have the money, though..."

"Ah got money" Merida finally stopped her rage and showed them a small pouch with some gold coins.

"Well, Punz and I don't really need to eat, so you'll save that" Jack patted her back and she hissed at him. Rapunzel nodded, and the four of them headed into the village to buy some food and water for Merida and Hiccup. They also got some blankets for the nights they'd have to spend outside, and once they were finished, they set off again.

Flying was definitely faster than traveling by foot, but it wasn't really pleasant for Merida because of all the races Jack wanted to do. Even though she was afraid, she still enjoyed flying and she had fun... well, deep down. They flew for as long as daylight allowed them to. They set camp in a wide field where they used some wood they brought from the forests to make a fire and they ate a delicious dinner (well, at least Hiccup and Merida did) while they talked about pretty much everything that came to their minds. Toothless went fishing to the nearest water extension and was back right when they were preparing to sleep. They went to sleep early so they could be full rested to keep traveling the next morning.

They woke up early and kept on going until noon, when they stopped to have some lunch, and afterwards, they kept flying until they noticed there wasn't much daylight left and they decided to look for a place to set camp. Jack pointed at a river that divided two forests. There were paths and trails that indicated human presence around the forests, and they decided to spend the night beside the river.

Instead of eating their packaged supplies, Merida suggested they fished in the river, since she saw salmons jumping against the flow. The redhead swiftly took off her shoes and stepped inside the water, not seeming to care about her dress getting wet. The water reached above her knees, but it was clear and transparent. She stood beside a very small waterfall, where fishes would try and jump over it. Rapunzel quickly imitated her, while Jack simply walked over the waters that he previously freezed with his staff. Toothless flew a few meters ahead so he could catch the fishes that jumped over the water without disturbing the teenagers, and Hiccup gathered wood for fire.

Merida stood as quietly and still as possible, and at the first chance, she shot an accurate arrow that pierced a fish right through. "Ah caught one!" she proudly announced, grabbing the arrow and showing her catch to everyone else.

"Just one?" Jack smirked and showed her the two frozen fishes he was holding. Merida pouted.

"Ye cheat!"

"I got them! I got them!" Rapunzel cheered, and with a wide smile she showed them the three fishes she'd managed to catch in her frying pan. Both Merida and Jack were left mouth-opened, and Hiccup laughed at their faces.

They kept fishing for a while. Until Jack got bored.

"Hey!" Merida yelped when the cold water touched her back. "Jack! It was ye wasnae it!?" she tried to get back at him by kicking the water aiming towards his face, but Jack simply slided away from it and laughed.

"Try harder, Meri!" but he suddenly found himself soaked when Rapunzel threw the water she had filled her frying pan with at him. Merida started laughing uncontrollably and Rapunzel smiled with satisfaction.

"That was not nice, Jack" she cooed.

"And what you just did was the nicest thing in the world, right?" Jack smiled devilishly, shaking some water off of his hair, and suddenly picked Rapunzel up.

"What are you doing!?" when she saw him walking towards a deeper part of the river, she desperately tried to get off of him. She was laughing, though. "Oh, no, Jack, please don't...!" she tried to hold onto him with hands and nails, but she didn't even get to finish talking before Jack dropped her in the water. She emerged to the surface completely soaked, obviously, coughing and laughing at the same time.

Merida was almost choking at that point, but Jack was far from finished. He gathered some water in his hands, freezed it with his breath to make an ice cube and, sneaking behind the laughing redhead, dropped it right down the inside of her dress. The girl yelped and jumped forward, trying to get rid of the freezing sensation in her back, she tripped with her own dress and fell right in the water. Now it was Jack who was laughing until running out of air. Merida got up with a surprised expression on her face, holding back her soaked amount of hair with her hands, and looked at Rapunzel, who was trying to get out without tripping over her own hair. Their eyes met and they simultaneously nodded in a silent agreement. Jack was laughing too hard to notice Rapunzel's hair tangling around one of his feet, and when he did notice, it was already too late and Merida was pulling him inside the river. The two girls laughed heartily as they high fived, very proud of themselves.

"How's th' water feel, Jack?" Merida mockingly asked when the boy managed to get up and cough the water he'd swallowed. The deadly glare he gave her only made her laugh harder.

"That'll teach you not to mess with ladies" Rapunzel smiled proudly, but she quickly had to run away when Jack started to run after them.

The girls yelped and laughed while Jack prosecuted them. Hiccup looked at them and smiled, but he wasn't really paying attention to their games. He was mindlessly drawing with a stick on the ground what looked like a map of the path they had traveled until then, while the fishes roasted over the fire and Pascal watched him, sitting on the ground. Toothless came back and sat by his side, attentively watching him draw. The drawing was slowly turning into a portrait. Hiccup watched how Merida's hair flowed while she ran and laughed, and he tried to capture that fascinating movement into a drawing. But of course, attempting that with a stick was useless. His dragon then grabbed a branch from a tree and started imitating the boy, drawing nonsensical patterns over the ground as he had already done once before. Hiccup watched him in amusement until he seemed to be finished, and then, when the Viking got up to go fetch the others, he had to carefully avoid the lines Toothless had drawn on the ground, because whenever he tried to step on them, the dragon would angrily growl at him. And he wouldn't want to fight his dragon. Mmm, nope, that was definitely something he'd rather not do.

Merida stopped on her tracks when she noticed that Jack was more busy trying to catch Rapunzel (that flirt...), and she laughed as she turned to see what Hiccup was doing. She held her wet hair away from her face with one hand while she watched him curiously. It almost looked like the boy was dancing. The way he'd carefully step with his arms extended and turned around to see where he'd step next reminded her of some kind of dance. When Hiccup turned and saw her, he smiled at her and continued, trying to get out of the labyrinth Toothless had drawn. Merida chuckled a little when he saw him so concentrated. At that moment, she noticed the sky had turned orange, and she called the other two to get out of the water before it was too cold.

"Dinner is ready, too!" Hiccup called them. He convinced Toothless to erase his "drawing" by wiping away Merida's primitive portrait before she could see it. Merida walked up to the fire, squeezing her dress and making sure to place her bow and arrows away from the fire. She sat beside Hiccup and smiled at him when he handed her a roasted fish. He hesitated for a second, but smiled a goofy smile back at her. To be honest, Merida intimidated him most of the time, but when she acted friendly and goofy like that, he actually liked her.

"N-not in a romantic way, of course!"

"What?" the girl looked at him with her mouth full, puzzled. Hiccup blushed intensely.

"D-did I say that out loud!? S-sorry! It was nothing!"

Merida gave him a skeptical look, but she chuckled.

"Yoo're funny, Hic. Ah like ye" this made him blush even more, but she pointed at him with the half-eaten fish she had in hand. "Don't get th' wrong idea, huh?"

"Of course not" Hiccup muttered, trying his best to hide his red cheeks.

Jack finally came with Rapunzel. They were both laughing and carrying quite an amount of wet blond hair in their hands.

"What took ye sae long?" Merida inquired as they sat down near the fire.

"Excuse me? Have you seen all this hair?" Jack eloquently showed her the amount he was carrying. "You have, haven't you? Well, it does take quite a lot of time to squeeze and drain it all. Poor Punz barely could get out of the river."

"I wonder whose fault is that?" Rapunzel smiled. "Sometimes it _is _a bother, though" she admitted, grabbing the fish Merida was handing her. Pascal refused to climb onto her because she was still wet, but he did cuddle at her side. She sweetly petted his head, and smiled. "I had a lot of fun" she happily giggled as she began eating. She didn't really need to, but it was pleasant to eat along with her friends. Besides, there was plenty of fish for everyone. Even Jack ate some.

How deliciously oblivious they were.

Pitch enjoyed watching them from afar. He enjoyed seeing their happiness and laughter, knowing that he soon would take it all away from them. He enjoyed thinking about how much he'd love to defeat them, to crush them, to bring down the world's last hope. But he couldn't entertain himself with daydreaming any longer. It was about time to begin the first step of his plan.

He gathered his dear nightmares, in the form of demon horses of black sand. He petted their heads and caressed their backs, lovingly cooing. He had made sure they all knew what they had to do. They snorted and fidgeted in anticipation. Pitch smiled. They were ready.

Toothiana gave fast instructions to her fairies, quickly turning to face the ones that required her assistance. So busy, so busy, she didn't have a moment for rest. Her overactive nature helped her a lot in her work; she always looked like she was high on caffeine. Her fairies swiftly flew everywhere, classifying teeth, obeying her instructions, bringing new teeth... Tooth's palace was a constant ruckus of busy fairies. But the ruckus was interrupted by the sound of someone breaking in. Everything stood surprisingly quiet and silent for a moment as the fairies waited in shock and fear. And suddenly, the nightmares broke in.

Tooth screamed and tried to save as many fairies as she could, but the nightmares were too fast and too many. They kidnapped the fairies and they stole the teeth without stopping. Tooth barely managed to escape herself. She then heard the laugh, and saw Pitch appearing from the shadows.

"Pitch!" she yelled, filled with anger. "What are you doing!? Release all my fairies this instant!"

The man laughed heartily. "Nah, I think I'll pass. What are you going to do? Throw a penny at me?" he wickedly smiled. "Now that I have what I need" he motioned at all the black nightmares escaping the palace loaded with fairies and teeth, "I shall leave you. It was nice seeing you, Toothiana. Too bad children won't" and with that, he disappeared again before Tooth could go after him.

The Guardians came to the rescue, but it was already too late. They found Tooth kneeling on the palace's floor, and when they asked what had happened, she broke down crying. Without her fairies and without the teeth, she was nothing. No one at all. And if children stopped believing on her... she'd simply disappear.

The rest of the Guardians helped her up and tried to cheer her up by saying how Easter was near and Bunny would make the children recover their faith. Easter was all about hope, after all. But, little did they know that Easter was never going to reach the children.

_**Yep, I decided to bring everyone back in their own bodies because this thing was getting just too messy to write and the riddle wasn't difficult to solve... at all xD So. That's about it for now. Hope you enjoyed this one, and don't hesitate to leave a review if you feel like it. They do make my day!**_


	13. Extra: Flower, gleam and glow

_**'Sup guys. I'm just so extremely tired I feel like I'll need 24 hours of sleep to just be active again.**_

_**College is tough. I have never been what you'd call a social butterfly and it's difficult for me to make new friends, even when I try. And I'm scared because if they see what kind of person I really am they'll walk away from me. So yeah, it's kinda rough. Besides I am so tired... I'm not even able to concentrate on anything. I guess waking up at 6:30 AM on a daily basis does that to a person.**_

_**Well, I got bad news for you all. I haven't been writing a lot because... of what I just said. College is draining all my energy. So this is not chapter 12 because it's not finished yet. I'M SORRY OKAY?**_

_**But this is an extra. Trust me, it'll prove itself to be important later on... later on. But for now, have this.**_

Rapunzel woke up in the middle of the night, gasping. Her breathing was harsh and she felt her heart beating loudly in her ears. She was covered in cold sweat and trembling. The nightmare had been horrible. Even though she barely remembered any of it, the terror was still clear in her mind. What was it that caused her so much fear? Her mind just couldn't recall it, but maybe it was best that way. She breathed in deeply and put her hair away from her face with her hands. In the light of the slowly dying fire, she was able to make out the sleeping bodies of her friends; seeing she wasn't alone helped her to calm down. Still... Rapunzel hardly ever slept. She didn't need to, just as she didn't need to eat or drink to survive. And whenever she slept, she never dreamed. That day she was just physically exhausted and she felt like she needed some sleep, and then... the nightmare. She was positive that it hadn't been a simple night terror. She didn't even dream to begin with.

"Did... did Pitch send me the nightmare?" she muttered, still struggling to calm herself down. She miserably failed when she felt the presence behind her.

She gasped and turned to see Sandman, smiling and waving at her. She sighed in relief. "Oh, Sandman, you scared me" she put a hand over her chest in a try to calm the crazy beating of her heart. "Ah, but... why are you here? Were you sent to get us back?" she was relieved when he shook his head no. He created an image of Pitch with his sand, and Rapunzel got the idea. "You sensed my nightmare..." he was the Guardian of dreams after all. "So Pitch _did_ send it to me... but why?"

Sandman knew why. Rapunzel was light. Pure light. Her glowing hair showed that she'd been touched by the purest and brightest of lights. And light and darkness were complete opposites, of course. That was why Pitch tried his best to terrify her; as long as she feared him, he'd be able to overcome her light with his darkness. But Sandman was unable to explain such a complicated concept to her, and he was once again frustrated by his inability to speak. But he created a musical note out of sand and pretended to sing. Rapunzel understood, but she was puzzled by his request.

"You want me to sing?" Sandy eagerly nodded to that. Rapunzel was confused, but she shrugged and did as she was told.

"_Flower, gleam and glow  
let your power shine_"

As she began singing in her lowest voice not to wake up the rest, the strands of her hair began glowing with a bright yellow light that intensified as the song went on.

"_Make the clock reverse  
bring back what once was mine_

_Heal what has been hurt  
change the fate's design  
Save what has been lost_"

When she sang this part, she noticed Sandman's sand leaking through her hair, imbuing every single strand with the Guardian's power. She was puzzled, but she didn't stop singing, for Sandman motioned for her to finish.

"_Bring back what once was mine  
what once was mine._"

As she finished her song, the light in her hair shone brightest for a moment, impregnated with the sand, and then vanished. But even when the light had vanished, she still felt the power inside of her. A tingling sensation in her heart that told her to have no fear. She gazed at the small Guardian, in shock.

"What have you given me, Sandy?" she whispered. Sandman smiled, made a sun out of sand and pointed at her. He then made a small Pitch out of sand in his hand... and crushed it in his fist. Rapunzel didn't quite get the message, but she understood that she could now fight her fears. He had given her a small bit of his power of dreams. Not enough for her to be able to create sand or dreams out of it, but enough for her to fight her nightmares. She smiled and hugged the Guardian. "Thank you so much" she said. Sandman blushed but shook his head resting importance to it, and waved her goodbye as he flew away in his cloud of sand. Rapunzel sat down on the grass, carefully petted the sleeping Pascal and smiled when seeing the others peacefully sleeping. Pitch could bother her all he wanted, as long as he didn't touch her friends. They were so precious to her now. She didn't know what she'd do if she found herself alone again after finding such amazing people. She lay down and sighed. She'd treasure this friends, for sure she would. And she closed her eyes to get some more sleep.

_**See what I just did? I gave Rapunzel a tiiiiiiiny bit of Sandy's power. Just because.**_

_**Nah there's a reason behind all this: she's going to need that. But no spoiling the story for you.**_

_**I trust myself to have chapter 12 ready sometime soon; it could be tomorrow or it could be some day in the next week, but no later than that, I promise. I'm sorry, but I'd rather not give you anything than giving you a crappy chapter I'm not satisfied with. I do promise, though, that I'll upload the chapter as soon as I finish it.**_

_**Sorry again, folks.**_


	14. Chapter 12: The dangers of flying

**_Oh hiiiiiiiii. Got some good news for y'all. Writer's block seems to have gone away! Ya-aay! Sssso, here you go with chapter 12 :B Sorry for the delay!_**

**_Oh, and thank you guys for sticking around. I really am thankful and glad you're enjoying this story!_**

Ah, the thrill of traveling. Nothing could compare to that. The sensation of freedom, of independence, and yet of company. They relied on each other for everything, and soon they had decided the way of sharing the daily chores. Merida would hunt or fish to enlarge their supplies, Rapunzel would gather wood and berries or fruits, Hiccup would set the camp and Jack would scan the zone from above to check for any possible danger. After encountering Pitch, they were more cautious with where they slept at night; Jack told them the little he knew about their enemy.

"He's the one who creates the nightmares" he explained. "And he can use them to fight and to make you dream of your worst fears. To tell the truth, I don't know much else about him. He was defeated by the Guardians way before I was born."

"I've only read that he's the incarnation of fear, so fear is his best strength. When people fear him, he becomes stronger" Rapunzel said, gulping. She knew she was the one who feared him the most. "With his nightmares, he can make you fear, so he's... powerful."

"Well Aam nae afraid ay him!" Merida fiercely declared.

"You may not be afraid of him, but you are afraid of something" Rapunzel replied. "Or... maybe not?" she wasn't all too sure. Merida, being such a fierce and strong-willed girl, didn't seem like she could be afraid of anything. The redhead laughed.

"Aam nae afraid ay anythin'!" she smiled. "Ah can fight mah fears! An' Aam sure we all can!"

"You're way too confident about that" Hiccup muttered, but (luckily for him) Merida didn't hear.

They kept traveling, the days went on and on. Even when they had gotten used to each other and they liked each other, they still were very different in spite of their similarities. And they argued, they got angry, they even challenged each other to a fight sometimes (especially Merida and Jack), but in the end things would always be fixed (especially by the interventions of Rapunzel, who hated the fights between them). Even when they slept outside every night (they were lucky winter and rain were still far from coming) and they had to travel most of the day, they had fun. Having friends was a different experience for all of them, and each of them enjoyed it in their own way. Even when enjoying it meant arguing and fighting sometimes.

One day, when they were flying, Jack noticed they were getting closer to the kingdom of Corona, and he said so to his partners. Merida was firmly clenching his neck and shoulders into a tight embrace and secured herself putting her legs around his waist, as she had been doing the past few weeks. Rapunzel, meanwhile, grasped Hiccup's waist with her hands, but carelessly let go of it sometimes just to enjoy the sensation of flying. Her long trail of blond hair traveled behind her, constantly moving and tugging her head backwards a little, but she didn't mind, she was used to it. Flying over a dragon was the best thing she'd experienced; even so, she would have liked to let Merida experience it as well, but Toothless adamantly refused to let the redhead ride his back for some reason they hadn't yet found out... so poor Merida was stuck with riding Jack's back. Jack didn't like Toothless being so stubborn, either. He did want to give Rapunzel a piggyback ride... maybe have the chance to talk to her with a little more privacy, get to know her better... you know, the usual thing to do while you're flying with someone riding your back.

As for Hiccup, he'd been constantly sighing. He failed to understand why Toothless wouldn't let Merida ride him, and that frustrated him because he wanted to have Merida riding behind him, experiencing the flight. Not like he wanted her to hold his waist or anything of the sort...

"PUNZIE!" Merida's sudden scream snapped both boys out of their thoughts. Hiccup was so mesmerized, he hadn't realized that Rapunzel had let go of her hold on his waist.

Poor Rapunzel wanted to feel the wind, to glide her hands over the clouds right above them, and she'd raised her hands in the air, letting go of her hold... but the wind became too strong, she lost her balance, and she was now falling down, with a very terrified Pascal hiding underneath her cleavage. Surprisingly enough, she wasn't scared. She was rather surprised of how small the others were becoming as she fell, and fell...

"JACK!" Merida slapped him furiously. "JACK, TH' HECK ARE YE STANDIN' STILL FUR!? WE HAVE TAE SAVE 'ER!"

Jack snapped out of the shock of seeing her falling and quickly commanded the wind to fly him towards Rapunzel. The speed was insane; the wind hit their faces with the wildest strength. Hiccup and Toothless also rushed over to catch her. Merida, however, was having trouble on holding onto Jack at such a speed, and she realized, in horror, that her hands were loosening their grip over him. She screamed as she lost her grip over Jack. But, this time, Hiccup had noticed her troubles and he swiftly grabbed her hand before she could fall. Jack had also managed to catch Rapunzel in his arms in mid-flight, and sighed in relief.

"Damn it, Punz, if you do this to me again I swear I'll have a damned heart attack! What'd you even do that for!?" he scolded her angrily. Rapunzel looked down at her hands with guilt.

"I'm sorry, Jack."

He sighed again. "I'm just glad I got you on time. Everything alright over there?" he asked Hiccup, who barely managed to get Merida to climb up over Toothless. The dragon wasn't very happy with that, and growled his discomfort.

"Yeah" Hiccup said, but he was cut off by Merida.

"JACK, YE STUPID MORON, YE THREW ME AFF!" she yelled at Jack, menacingly shaking her fist at him.

"I _did _have to catch Rapunzel, didn't I?" the winter spirit snapped back, frowning.

"But ye cood have been more careful wi' me – AAAAH!" she screamed when Toothless lost his balance due to the _thing_ that suddenly attacked them.

Rapunzel gasped and held Jack's neck tightly.

"What was that!?" Hiccup yelled, searching for the thing. Jack, however, had his eyes widely open, staring at some point ahead of him. "Jack, what's wrong?" when he turned his head, he realized just what he'd been staring at. "Oh, fu -"

Nightmares. A whole load of nightmares made out of black sand, coming just ahead of them. They were coming in all sorts of animal shapes, and they were too many to even try to stand up against them. One of them was the thing that had attacked Toothless and made him lose balance. Merida gasped and started frantically shaking Hiccup.

"WE GOTTA GET OUT AY HAUR!" she screamed, desperately. "TOOTHLESS!"

The dragon, however little did he like to obey Merida's call, knew that she was right, and swiftly made a run for the ground to avoid getting them right in the middle of the nightmares.

"Jack!" Rapunzel's voice was trembling. The winter spirit nodded and held her tightly as he followed Toothless as fast as he could to fly as near the ground as possible. Nightmares didn't realize their dodging at first, but they soon started following them down.

Rapunzel looked over Jack's shoulder and saw one of the nightmares getting too close. She screamed when the nightmare grabbed a hold of her hair.

"Rapunzel!?" Jack soon realized what was happening, and quickly shot a flash of ice towards the nightmare, making it loosing its grip over the blond hair. Rapunzel took advantage of that moment to gather as much of her hair as she could in her hands as they kept flying forward and Jack sent shots backwards to disperse their prosecutors.

Merida was also looking back at the nightmares, and she knew they wouldn't be able to outrun them for too long. "Hic, they aur followin' us! We have tae fin' some place tae hide!"

"You tell me where!" Hiccup desperately replied. That was exactly what he'd been searching for through the entire race. That's when he realized they were getting closer to a row of mountains. "Toothless, head straight to those mountains over there!"

"What aur ye goin' tae dae!?"

"We are going to try to lose them among those!"

"But what about Punzie an' Jack!?" Merida inquired, her voice shaky due to all that adrenaline.

"They'll follow us!" Hiccup replied.

Or at least he hoped they would. They had no time to look back and check.

Hiccup swiftly guided the dragon through the mountains. Toothless flew as fast as his wings allowed him to, heading straight to the mountains and avoiding them at the last minute, hoping to lose the nightmares somewhere along the way. The crazy race didn't last for too long. As soon as they managed to leave the nightmares behind one of the mountains, Hiccup commanded the dragon to dive directly into the trees growing among the mountains. Toothless landed in one of the treetops and hid among the leaves, his black scales allowing him and his two riders to stay unnoticed. They stood as still and quiet as they possibly could, hearing the animal noises the nightmares made. Those weren't even _near_ to the noises normal animals would make. They sounded demonic, distorted. Hiccup shivered when he heard them, and Merida readied her bow, just in case.

But the nightmares weren't really made for searching, and soon gave up and left. Merida peeked in between the branches of the tree to make sure it was safe to come out, and when she saw it was, she sighed in relief.

"Coast clear."

Hearing that, Toothless climbed down to the ground. Hiccup let himself fall in the humid grass, letting out a deep sigh.

"Well, at least we're unharmed."

"Where aur Jack an' Punzie?" Merida asked, worry in her eyes. Hiccup gazed at his own hands, his expression sad.

"I dunno."

"We have tae find 'em! Get up!" Merida harshly commanded, but her shaky voice betrayed how worried she was.

"We should wait a while more" Hiccup replied. "Give them a chance to hide from the nightmares; if they notice us, they'll come after us, and I don't feel like doing that wild run again."

"But what if th' nightmares get 'em!?"

"They won't" he assured her, and she hesitated for a moment. She knew he was right, she didn't feel like running that wildly again either, but she didn't want to admit that. Besides, she wanted to make sure their friends were okay...

"Ten minutes" she said in all seriousness. "Nae more than 'at." and when Hiccup nodded, she knew those would be the longest ten minutes of her life.

They were being the longest for Rapunzel, at least. She held onto Jack with all her might; he was flying so fast she thought she might just...

"Hang in there, Punz!" Jack yelled. He was frustrated he couldn't outrun those damned nightmares. His mind was working at its best speed, but the only option he saw was trying to hide somewhere to lose their prosecutors... Wait, was that a cave? "That's perfect!" he exclaimed.

He barely avoided one of the mountains. Some of the nightmares couldn't stop their race and crashed against the mountain, dissolving in black dust; seeing he had advantaged them, Jack headed straight for the cave and landed inside... but the rest of the nightmares had gone after them. The black, demonic animals were disoriented by the speed of the prosecution and crashed against the cave walls, making the unstable rocks crumble.

"Oh, no" Jack was so frustrated by everything, he didn't even get scared. And he just made a run for it while the walls and ceilings crumbled behind them. But, he couldn't avoid everything; he tripped over a rock and both he and Rapunzel screamed as Jack fell down and hit his head. His fall threw Rapunzel off his arms a few meters ahead. She rolled on the floor and, panicking, curled herself up and stood very still until the cave stopped crumbling, only able of hoping they wouldn't be crushed by a rock.

When everything fell still and quiet, she looked up, only to find out that she couldn't see a thing. The rocks had completely blocked the entrance. She felt the panic growing on her chest and tried to calm herself by breathing in deeply, but the dust on the air made her cough. At that moment, Pascal crawled out of the inside of her dress, shaking.

"Pascal, is that you?" Rapunzel touched him, and, relieved he was okay, held him close to her chest. "Oh, you poor little thing. You must've nearly had a heart attack... I was so close to it myself..."

She tried blinking to get her eyes accustomed to the darkness, but it was no use. There was no difference between opening and closing them. Fear was creeping up on her again...

"Jack?" she called, her voice shaky and feeble. "Jack, where are you?" she started to slowly crawl, searching for him with her hands. "Jack, it's not funny" she trembled. "Please answer me..." she felt the tears filling up her eyes. "Oh, if only I had a damned light! Wait..." she reached for her hair with her hands. "Light!"

She started singing her song, and felt relieved when her hair started glowing, lighting up the cave. Rapunzel looked everywhere in search of Jack, and finally saw him, lying unconscious and half hidden under a pile of small stones and dust. She gasped and swiftly reached for him, calling his name as her hair stopped glowing. "Jack! Jack, wake up!" she wiped the dust and stones away from him with her hands and tried to pull him up. "Ugh, you're heavy, did you know that?"

"Are you calling me fat?" a groggy and deep voice said, and Rapunzel almost shed tears of joy when she heard it.

"Jack! Thank goodness, are you okay!?"

"Well, it's not the best day of my life, but it's not the worst, either" he slowly got up, rubbing his forehead. "My head sure hurts like hell, though..."

"Are you wounded?" she asked, and before he could answer, she started singing again. The light emanating from her hair allowed her to examine his forehead closer. She noticed the wound he had, and, gasping, wrapped her hair over it and kept singing for it to heal.

Jack just stared at her, lost in thought. Her glowing hair made her look beautiful, as if surrounded by an angel's halo. She was so close to him at that moment... If his cheeks could blush, they definitely would.

When Rapunzel finished singing, her hair stopped glowing, and she sighed. "Does it feel better?"

"Yeah... much better" Jack blinked, trying to get his eyes used to the darkness. "Huh... so... the entrance is blocked?"

"It seems like it" Rapunzel's voice was a curious mixture of sadness, worry and anxiety.

"Well. That's... unconvenient" his eloquence was surely stunning. Way to go, Frost.

"What are we going to do?" Rapunzel asked, trembling. Pascal was cuddling against her neck, still scared from the intense prosecution.

"Let's... let's just go further in" Jack decided. "This must have another entrance, somewhere. I'm sure we'll find something if we just keep walking."

That wasn't exactly something to look forward to, and it certainly didn't quite fill their hearts with hope and dreams, but it was better than just sitting there, mourning their disgrace. Rapunzel decided to keep her optimism.

"Okay!"

"Hey, Punz, do you think you could... um, you know. Lighten up the way?"

"Oh, sure."

And so they began walking, as Rapunzel's singing voice echoed in the stone walls and her glowing hair illuminated their path, diving further into the darkness.

"Hic, Aam nae stayin' haur any longer!"

Hiccup gulped, but he knew she was right. Even when they risked being found by the nightmares again, they couldn't just sit there forever. They had to look for Jack and Rapunzel and see if they needed help.

"Alright. Let's get moving" he said, and followed the red headed princess as she lead their way deeper into the forests of the mountainside.

Hours passed by. They felt like days. Walking, walking, and even more walking for both of the couples.

The atmosphere in the cave was suffocating. Rapunzel's throat felt sore from singing continuously for such a long time. Jack rubbed his forehead in a try to calm down the stinging headache. Even when he liked Rapunzel's singing voice quite a lot, he was getting extremely sick of the damned song. And so, he stopped walking.

"Punz, stop."

"Huh?" Rapunzel was surprised, and when her singing stopped, so did the glow in her hair. "But... Jack, we haven't walked that much... I'm not tired, I swear" it was such an obvious lie, even in the darness, that Jack couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his mouth.

"Stop acting strong, you're just as tired as I am. Or even more, since you had to sing all the way here. Let's just sit and rest."

Rapunzel hesitated. Just sitting down in plain darkness wasn't exactly an ideal plan, but her feet and throat were sore, and she didn't really feel like keeping on walking towards nowhere. So she sat by his side, leaning her back against the cave's hard and cold stone wall. Or maybe it just was cold because Jack was there.

Personally, she liked his natural coldness. It was weird, but also pleasant. It simply felt natural on him, to be cold to the touch...

"I'm sorry, you must be really cold" Jack muttered. "I'll sit a little further..."

"N-no!" she instinctively grabbed a hold of his hoodie. "I-it's fine, really. I'm not cold. Please stay near..." sitting _alone_ in the darkness was even less of an ideal plan.

Jack was surprised to hear that, but gladly obliged her wishes (even when Pascal wasn't quite as happy). They just sat like that, next to each other, in the deepest darkness. They weren't even able to see their own hands. It was spooky, but at the same time, strangely relaxing. Rapunzel felt calm when having him by his side. Besides, if they couldn't even see each other, neither could any potential danger, right?

"Jack..." Rapunzel called.

"Hmm?"

"What if we find a dead end?"

Jack didn't know what to respond. How could he make the situation look less serious? How could he even joke in that mess? That wasn't a joke. That wasn't something they had some way of getting out of easily.

"Well, I guess if that's so, we would have to turn back and try to find a way of getting those rocks out of the entrance..."

"But they're way too big" Rapunzel replied. "What if we can't? What if we can't get out of here... ever?" he didn't see the tears, but he felt them in her voice.

"Then... I guess that means we'll have to spend an eternity trapped in here, living in the darkness and just doing nothing for the rest of our lives" he responded, and then let out a small chuckle. "At least we'll have a lot of time to get to know each other better."

Rapunzel sniffed, but giggled a little, too. There was a small silence between them.

"I... I love painting" Rapunzel muttered.

"Oh, is that so?" Jack smiled. "I did picture you as the artsy type, actually."

Rapunzel smiled a little. "Back in... my tower, I used to spend most of my time painting. I would make paintings on all the walls, from top to bottom... until I had no space left."

"Wow. That's interesting" Jack stood thoughtful for a moment. "I like to have snowball fights. Or, rather, _cause_ them" Rapunzel giggled to that. "I enjoy giving snow to the children. Children love the snow, you know? Because even though it's cold, they can have fun with it. It's real fun to watch them."

Rapunzel smiled, picturing the images in her head. Jack, bringing snow with his staff, creating snowballs for the children and beginning a snowball fight between them all... Maybe she could participate, too. And he would throw snowballs at her and bathe her in snowflakes until she sneezed. Yes, she could definitely see him doing that.

"I just... sometimes I wish I could play with them, too." Jack whispered, and Rapunzel saddened, because she knew how much he wished to be seen. She stood thoughtful for a second, until she said:

"You know, Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"You're just like the snow."

"Oh? How's that?"

"Well... because... even though you're kinda cold, we can have fun with you. And we like you, Jack. The three of us."

The winter spirit felt moved by those words. Bonds have been created between the four of them, yes. Jack trusted all of them; but Rapunzel, she was different. He felt like he could tell her anything, absolutely anything, without being judged or abandoned. It was weird, how he had always hid himself behind a wall, not to show his true feelings, and now he himself was destroying his own wall so he could open up to her... to a girl he'd barely met a few weeks, maybe a couple months, ago.

It felt like they'd known each other for their entire lives, though.

_**That's it for now! Whew. I don't know why this one took so long. I'm still not entirely satisfied with the way I explain what's going on... but oh well, I guess I'm still not inspired enough. I'll have chapter 13 ready ASAP! See you guys soon ~**_


	15. Chapter 13: Lost and found

_**Hey! I hope you're happy with me, because I got you chapter 13! I can't say it has a lot of action... unless bonding counts as action. However! Things are about to happen. Funny things, and not-so-funny things. Just you wait.**_

_**For now, I hope you'll enjoy this one!**_

"JACK! RAPUNZEL!" Merida's voice echoed through all the woods, through the mountains, through Hiccup's ears.

"Merida, quit yelling, nightmares might still be around!"

"Oh, is mah yellin' nae discreet enough fur ye?" the girl sarcastically replied. "Well YER FUDGIN' DRAGON IS NAE EXACTLY BLENDIN' IN!" she eloquently pointed at Toothless, who gave her a not-so-friendly look. "Och, Ah awreddy know ye don't like me, but dae ye have tae let it show like 'at?" the dragon stuck his tongue out to her, and she snorted and turned to keep walking. "RAPUNZEL! JAAACK!"

"We can't search them through all these mountains. It would take forever..." Hiccup muttered to himself, but he didn't really know what else to do. Even when she tried to hide it, he knew Merida was worried to death. Of course, he was worried too, but he was trying to look at the situation from a more objective point of view so he could think things through better... wasn't working, of course.

Their search continued for hours, while Rapunzel and Jack walked and walked in the tunnels. Hiccup's feet felt sore, Toothless was just about to refuse another single step, and Merida, well, she acted strong, as if she could never be tired at all.

"Come on, Merida" Hiccup grabbed a hold of her arm, stopping her. "You're just as exhausted as I am. Let's sit down for a while."

"We cannae!" she replied, shaking his hand off. "Ah cannae leave Punzie alone..."

"She's not alone, she's with Jack" he protested, and Merida grimaced to that.

"What a relief" was her sarcastic response. Disregarding his words, she kept walking, but it was plain to see that she was physically exhausted. "What if they got 'em? What if they aur injured? Nae, Ah cannae stop... Jest a little more... Aam sure they aur nae far..."

Even though he was saw it coming, Hiccup gasped when she fainted and fell right on her face. He quickly went to turn her so she was laying on her back, and examine her face carefully.

"Seems she's just fainted from exhaustion... luckily" he sighed in relief. "Geez, this girl. Toothless, give me some water, will you?" the dragon obeyed by picking up the canteen he was carrying with his mouth and offering it to the Viking. "Thanks, bud" Hiccup wet his hands with the water and carefully stroked Merida's forehead.

He got the blanket that Toothless was carrying and put it under Merida's head so she'd rest on it, and then he sat by her side, sighing.

"It was a matter of time" he muttered. "Dang it, Merida, you're so dumb. Why can't you just stop acting like nothing can ever get to you? Why can't you care a little more for yourself? Moron" he brushed a lock of her hair away from her face with his fingers, and sighed. "Well, I guess you wouldn't be you if you did that."

Toothless lay down behind Hiccup, and the boy petted his black scales. The dragon wasn't as tired, of course; his resistance was far better than Hiccup's or even Merida's, but he _was_ tired of simply walking around doing nothing else. Hiccup understood how he felt, but he couldn't stop thinking about Rapunzel and Jack's whereabouts. They'd have to get going as soon as Merida felt well enough.

"She'll probably lie just so we can get going faster, though" the boy sighed. What a lost cause of a girl, that one.

"Hiccup?" he was startled by her voice, and quickly checked on her. She was, indeed, awake, but her eyelids felt heavy, and she was blinded by the light.

"Meri! Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." she groaned. "Aam... tired."

"It's fine" he replied. "You can sleep if you want" he sighed. "You really should care more about yourself, Merida."

"Sorry" she smiled a little. "But Ah can rely on ye tae dae 'at fur me, right?"

He blushed slightly, but smiled. "I won't always be there to take care of you, you know."

"That's fine" Merida closed her eyes. "It's jest nice tae know yoo're haur now."

He was surprised, but he bit his lip and stood silent. Why did her words made him feel so... weird? He couldn't give it a second thought, since the gap of silence didn't last long.

"Ye know, Hic? Ah never minded bein' alone. Ah kind ay liked it. But now..." she sighed, covering her forehead with one of her hands. "Now, if ye werenae haur, Ah'd be sae lonely. Ah don't know if Ah'd be strong enough... tae keep walkin'."

Hiccup's eyes opened widely in disbelief. Did he just hear Merida admitting a weakness? Impossible! "I guess I'm helpful, then" he said. "Because, if I'm here, you'll feel like you have to be strong for the both of us."

That was a success, because it made her laugh. She looked at him and smiled, and he gave back one of his goofy smiles. Silence fell between them again, and Toothless slightly growled as he scratched his back.

"Hic."

"Yeah?"

"Why does yer dragon nae like me?"

Ah. He wished that was a question he could answer. Toothless seemed to be perfectly fine with Rapunzel, and to react friendly with Jack. Merida was the only one he showed discomfort with. And that, he didn't understand. He sighed and took a sip of water from the canteen.

"Is it because ye don't like me?"

Hiccup almost choked. "W-what?" he managed to say between coughing up the water. "N-no way! I do like you!" once he had coughed all that water out of his respiratory system, he noticed her smile.

"Well 'at's a relief."

Hiccup bit his lip and blushed furiously. Merida laughed and got up so she could pat his back.

"Let's keep goin', alrecht?" she helped him get back up. "Thanks fur cheerin' me up."

"Yeah, uh... no problem, I guess" he muttered under his breath as they began walking again and Merida's calls for Jack and Rapunzel echoed all through the land.

Meanwhile, in the tunnel, Jack and Rapunzel were still sitting in the darkness. The silence had fallen between them after Rapunzel's words to him; they both felt too embarrassed to speak.

"Are you cold?" Jack finally muttered.

"No" Rapunzel answered. "No, not at all."

Jack was glad it was dark at that moment, because that way she couldn't see the silly smile that spread through his lips. Gee, what was getting into him?

"But... Jack?" Rapunzel bit her lip before continuing. "I'm scared."

"Huh? Why?" he panicked. "D-don't be! Everything's going to be fine!"

"But what if it isn't?" Rapunzel's eyes teared up, and it was shown in her voice. "Merida and Hiccup don't have any idea of where we are... _we_ don't have any idea where we are! I-I don't want to be trapped in the darkness for the rest of my _long_ life, Jack!" there, that was it. She started crying, finally giving up to the panic that had been creeping up on her since the entrance of the cave had been blocked.

Jack panicked, too. Because, well, he didn't know how to deal with people crying. It was beyond him, and he started frantically patting her back and saying "There, there". But "there, there" wouldn't work in this case. He bit his lip, nervously. What could he do? How could he show her that everything was going to be fine? Because everything _was_ going to be fine, even if he had to make things become fine himself. He decided that a first step to make things become fine, was to comfort her; and so, he hugged her. Rapunzel let out a little gasp of surprise, but her whole body thankfully gave in to the hug. After hesitating for a second, she put her arms around him as well and closed her teary eyes.

"Thanks" she said. Jack smiled.

"No probs."

Their faces were priceless when the ceiling of the tunnel gave in, causing a screaming Hiccup to fall inside.

Not as priceless as Merida's, though. They were just peacefully walking as she called for Jack and Rapunzel, when she suddenly heard a loud scream from behind her.

"Hiccup!?" but when she turned, there was no Hiccup. There was a hole in the ground, though. Toothless quickly put his head inside the hole, calling for his owner in his dragon kind of way. Which sounded like he was trying to roar but had something stuck on his throat. "Get yer head outta th' way, moron, or yoo're gonnae fall in too!" Merida pushed him back. Toothless growled at her, but she paid no attention.

In the tunnel, Jack and Rapunzel were still holding each other with eyes widely open as they saw Hiccup emerge from the loads of earth and dust, coughing.

"Oh, my day just keeps getting better and better, right?" when he turned around to see the very surprised Jack and Rapunzel, his face became a priceless one, too, with his mouth hanging open and all.

"Hic!? Aur ye alrecht!?" Merida called from above, peeking over the edge of the hole.

"Merida!" Rapunzel quickly got up and waved at her. "We're down here!"

"Punzie!? Oh thank goodness! Aur ye alrecht? Aur ye injured or somethin'?"

"No, we're fine! Hiccup's fine, too!"

"Just... what just happened?" Jack said, his brain unable to process it.

"Well... I guess that... the ground there wasn't as thick as the rest, and when I walked over it, it just gave in... and here I am!" he finished, as though it was a joke. The whole situation sounded like a joke, really.

"Ah'll find a way tae get ye outta thaur! Jest wait!" Merida's face disappeared from the hole as she went to find something for them to climb up.

"Oh, don't worry, we're not going anywhere" Jack replied, rolling his eyes.

At first, she thought of having Toothless go down and get them out by flying, but there wasn't enough space for him to do that, so she'd have to find some other way. She searched in Toothless' saddle for a rope, but the one she found was too small. "Damn it!" she cursed. "What is he even carryin' thes fur!?" she thought really hard for a while, until an idea came to her mind. But she couldn't do that by herself... "Ahem... Toothless?" she called the dragon, who gave her an annoyed look. "Aam gonnae need yer help tae get 'em out."

The dragon snorted, and Merida frowned. "Och, com' on, Hiccup's down thaur too. Aam sure he'd want ye tae help me out!" she was satisfied when the dragon snorted again, but gave in and waited for her to explain her plan. "Thanks, Toothless!" she held up the rope for him to see. "See thes rope? Aam gonnae attach it tae mah waist, and yoo're gonnae hold it in yer mouth as Ah go down thaur and pull them up!"

Toothless stared at her as if she was crazy, or as if saying 'okay, nice joke, now what's the real plan?'. But when he saw she was serious, he rolled his eyes and nodded. It was worth a try... or was it now?

And so it happened. Toothless was strong enough to hold Merida as she let herself down through the hole, but two people was something else. The redhead and Rapunzel held on to each other as the dragon slowly pulled both of them up. The same process was repeated with Jack and Hiccup; even though Toothless growled and tripped a couple times, the plan turned out to be a success and the four of them got back up safely. Merida threw the rope away and went near the dragon, smiling. "Ye did it! Good job, Toothless!" she reached upwards a little bit so she could pat his nose. "Aam proud ay ye!"

Surprisingly enough, the dragon reluctantly let himself be patted, and Merida's smile turned even wider. Hiccup noticed his dragon slowly accepting her, and he smiled. Finally.

"Punzie! Where's Pascal? An' yer fryin' pan?" Merida asked, noticing something missing.

"Oh?" Rapunzel pointed at the back of her neck, where Pascal was hiding. "Pascal is just right here, but... I guess I lost my frying pan when we were falling, or running... or whenever" she smiled goofily. "I'm going to miss it."

"Well, I'm glad you guys are alright" Hiccup said, looking at Rapunzel and Jack.

"Yeah, I'm glad you two are fine, too" Rapunzel hugged Hiccup, and then Merida. "I was so worried about you both!"

"Nae near as worried as Ah was about ye!" Merida replied. "But everything's alrecht now!"

"See, Punz?" Jack patted the blonde's head, smiling. "I told ya."

"Hey, guys, I don't mean to ruin the precious moment, but... does any of you know where we are?" Hiccup intervened, looking around. "We had been following a path until the nightmares came after us, but now..."

"Don't worry, I'll go see if I recognize any of this" Jack commanded the wind and started flying around the area. The others observed his flight until he came back down with a very cheerful face. "I know where we are! Turns out we got the right path anyway. Corona is just a little further ahead of these mountains, and the capital is only a few days far!"

The rest received the news with cheers and excited jumping.

"Let's get going, then!" Rapunzel quickly grabbed a hold of Jack and climbed over his back without even asking. He laughed as he held onto her so she wouldn't fall off.

Hiccup climbed over Toothless, and Merida came near the dragon and stared him in the eyes. "Aam sorry if Ah did anythin' tae make ye nae like me, Toothless. But Ah dae like ye, an' Ah'd love tae ride yer back... if ye let me."

The dragon's eyes brightened, and he playfully purred as he bumped Merida's face with his nose. The girl laughed and petted the dragon's face before climbing up on his back, holding onto Hiccup's waist.

"We're all set, then" the Viking smiled happily. "Let's go!"

_**That's it! I hope you liked that.**_

_**As always, I want to thank everyone who reviews, follows, favorites or simply reads this story. I'm insanely glad that you people like it (hell I even show off this thing to my friends, I can't believe that so many of you are liking it!). See you all soon :3**_


	16. Chapter 14: Mischief

_**Hey guys. Sorry this one is a little late. I haven't been able to write anything during the week because I've been awfully depressed these days, and well, today I was feeling better and I finally got the inspiration to write.**_

_**Listening to the Kingdom Dance from the soundtrack for Tangled really helped me write this. I do recommend that you listen to it while you read, it helps setting the atmosphere :3**_

A few more days of traveling passed. It was just past noon when they finally reached the forests surrounding the lake where the capital of Corona was placed.

"We're here" Rapunzel whispered, staring at the magnificent city with her eyes sparkly and wide.

"Here we are" Jack nodded with a smile. "Hic!" he called. "Let's land in the forest down there, okay!?" he received a nod in response, and both the winter spirit and the dragon maneuvered to land among the trees. Hiccup patted Toothless and instructed him to stay hidden until he came back that night to feed him, and the dragon obeyed, climbing up the trees to rest.

The four teenagers walked up to the bridge that connected the rest of the land with the centre of the enormous lake: the city. Rapunzel was the first; she ran ahead of them, unable to contain her excitement, admiring everything she had on sight. She turned to her friends and said a "wow!" that made them laugh as they tried to follow her pace.

The blonde walked up to the city doors, and a smile of amazement spread through her face. The city was covered in purple pennants with a golden sun on the centre of each, shops and people gathered everywhere... it was plain to see that there was a festivity going on. But it wasn't long until Rapunzel started running into everyone, people started tripping over her hair and pushing her around. Jack, Merida and Hiccup quickly gathered her amount of hair in their hands. "Ye cannae walk around wi' thes hair!" Merida frowned, and started looking around for something helpful. When she noticed four little girls braiding each other's hair, she whistled at them and showed them Rapunzel's hair.

Of course, the children were more than happy to start braiding such an amount of hair. Rapunzel's friends sat nearby while they waited and observed the happy girls, laughing and braiding. They even put flowers in between the strands of blond hair, and when the braid was finally finished, Rapunzel looked absolutely stunning. She twirled as she sighed in happiness and said a "Thank you!". Jack watched her twirling in astonishment. Saying she was beautiful was an understatement, now. Hiccup noticed his stare and elbowed him with a suggestive smile and his eyebrows raised. Jack rolled his eyes with a smile, and lightly pushed him.

"Hey, ye wee lassies" Merida kneeled down to talk to the little girls. "Is thaur some kind ay festival goin' on?"

"Yeah!" the eldest of them answered. "It's the Sun Festival! We celebrate in honor of our king and queen!"

"And also for the princess" a younger one added, but their expressions saddened when she said that.

"Why do you look so sad all of a sudden?" Hiccup asked.

"The princess is no longer with us" the older one said. "She passed away when she was eighteen..."

"But everyone loved her" another one added. "So we celebrate this in her honor as well."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that..."

"Ah see... An' does any ay ye know when th' lanterns will be released?" Merida inquired.

"Tomorrow!" the youngest smiled and jumped in excitement. "Tomorrow there will be lots and lots of lanterns everywhere!"

"It's going to be really pretty!" another one said, and the others eagerly nodded in approval.

"Ah bet it will" Merida smiled and patted their heads. "Thank ye, wee lassies!"

"So, tomorrow, huh?" Jack said. "We still have plenty of time, then."

"We have to explore this place!" Rapunzel was excitedly fidgeting and smiling constantly. "There's so much to see!"

"We should find a place to sleep in first" Hiccup smiled. "After all, we still have plenty of money, since we didn't waste it in supplies or anything..."

"Hic's right" Jack nodded. "We have to find an inn or something, and then we can do anything you want, okay Punz?"

They asked around for an affordable and comfortable inn, and were recommended to one right in the centre of the city, in a plaza where everything seemed to converge. When they were done renting their two double rooms (it was cheaper than getting an individual room for each), Rapunzel began dragging them around. She took Merida's hand and pulled her behind as Hiccup and Jack followed, watching in amusement how the blonde's face would lit up everytime she found something of her interest... which was pretty often. She had them browsing the interesting pieces and foods the stalls had to offer. They purchased one of the purple flags with a yellow sun from a kid that was selling them. Rapunzel was constantly smiling, and her smile had Merida smiling as well as she was dragged by the blonde's hand all the way. Hiccup bought cupcakes for them, and they stuffed them into each other's faces, just for the heck of it. Their laughter could be heard through the streets.

Rapunzel pulled them into a library. Hiccup gladly followed her. Merida and Jack, while they weren't as interested in books, glided their hands over the covers, impressed by the huge quantity that were carefully ordered in the shelves. Rapunzel didn't hesitate and started pulling more and more books out of the shelves; she was in her element. Hiccup was more reluctant to pulling them out, but when he saw Rapunzel, he started doing it as well. The blonde called for her companions as she laid the books on the ground and opened them, showing them the maps and the pictures. Hiccup explained things to them as they all sat and kneeled together. Merida was taken aback by the stories he knew: he told about old kingdoms, great battles and fierce warriors as he showed them the illustrations in the books.

"A very long time ago, Celts used to live in this land" Hiccup explained, as he pointed the location in a map. "They were settled there and lived divided in many tribes. But they were invaded. The leader of the Iceni tribe was married to a woman, Boudicca; the man agreed with the invaders to let them rule his tribe once he died... but he died much sooner than he was expected to. The invaders took over his tribe, had Boudicca whipped and her daughters, the leader's daughters... well, they raped them."

"That's awful!" Rapunzel gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.

"Bastards" Merida growled, her fists clenched in anger.

"What happened next?" Jack asked with interest.

"Well, Boudicca was enraged, of course" Hiccup continued, showing them a picture of a woman standing before an army. "She was whipped... so she whipped up a rebellion. She gathered thousands of men and spoke to them this way: _This is not the first time we have been led to battle by a woman. I do not fight for my royal titles; I'm fighting for my honor, and for our freedom. Though a woman, my resolution is fixed. The men, if they please, may survive with infamy, and live in bondage. I won't!_"

Merida's eyes started shining in excitemend and admiration. Hiccup smiled, because he knew she would like that.

"An' then?" the redhead eagerly asked.

"They battled, of course. Boudicca led a battle against the invaders... and she won. Her rebellion was almost successful, to the point her enemies had to gather more soldiers to face her. In the final battle against them, Boudicca led an enormous army. But, sadly, she was defeated. It is said that she preferred to kill herself using poison, rather than being captured by her enemies."

"Wow" Merida whispered.

"She was really brave" Rapunzel was admired, too.

"That kind of personality reminds me of someone" Jack whistled as he elbowed Merida. Hiccup chuckled.

"She's actually described as a tall, strong, fierce woman with a long and messy mass of red hair" he smiled when he saw Merida's eyes lit up to that.

"Oh, now we've done it. You have a new role model to look up to, don't you, Meri?" Jack smiled.

"Ah definitely dae" she replied.

"Are you going to pull up a rebellion on us? Should we dethrone the current king and queen? What do you think?"

She laughed and playfully pushed him, but her eyes had a naughty spark. "Ah might think ay it."

They walked and walked until they decided to go back to the big plaza, where everything was going on. Merida wanted to buy something to eat, so they waited in the line to one of the shops. Rapunzel was looking around and noticed a beautiful mosaic in one of the walls. People stopped by to leave some flowers under it, and Rapunzel stepped forward to have a closer look at it. It represented a bearded man and a beautiful woman, who, judging by the crowns on their heads, seemed to be the king and queen of the land. They were both holding a little baby girl with green eyes and brown hair. But, why did she feel like she recognized those faces...? She tilted her head to the side and looked closely. She was sure she knew them from somewhere...

"Punzie! Look over thaur!"

Merida's voice distracted her, and when she looked, the redhead, her mouth stuffed in bread and cheese, was pointing at a group of children drawing on the ground with chalk. Rapunzel quickly rushed over to join them, and called for the others to join in. She grabbed purple chalks and started a drawing. Merida kneeled down beside her to help, asking for her directions. Hiccup joined them and sat on the ground, but he started a drawing of his own. Seeing their faces while they were drawing, he felt like he wanted to draw the girls. He pulled a notebook he'd purchased out of his vest, and started outlining their faces with the charcoal he'd grabbed.

"Jack, come here!" Rapunzel called him. Her bright face and eyes made him smile widely. He was glad to see her so happy. Rapunzel was... she was like a sun. She was bright and warm, and her light would shine on everyone and everything around her. Her happiness was contagious. And, because of that, Jack did something surprising on him: he kneeled down beside them and started drawing under Rapunzel's lead.

Her smile when he did was something worth seeing.

Hiccup smiled too as he added Jack's face to his own drawing. Their features were starting to take shape. As they drew on, their faces became more determined, but their smiles didn't disappear, not one moment. Rapunzel's face was the brightest of all. She was living her dream, even if the lights were still not up in the sky.

Hours felt like minutes. Rapunzel grabbed the yellow chalk as Merida and Jack touched up the purple backgrounds. She colored the outlines in, her hands and wrists completely stained in chalk. But she didn't mind. She didn't pay attention to anything else. Her drawing, it absorbed all of her attention. She didn't notice how Jack and Merida stopped drawing to watch her; she didn't notice how Hiccup was almost finished with the sparks in her eyes, the focus shown in the position of her eyebrows and the smile that constantly adorned her face; nor did she notice how the people around stopped to watch her in admiration. When she was finally finished, she got up, brushed her hair out of her forehead with her arm and breathed out, looking at her picture overall. The others were already up, and they admired the drawing of the yellow sun over a purple background with wide eyes and smiles.

"It looks amazing" Jack said, his lopsided smile spread all over his face. "Great job, Punz."

"No" she smiled. "We did it together!"

"Hey, Hic, what have ye been drawin' all thes time?" Merida peeked over his shoulder and he quickly closed the notebook, his cheeks red.

"N-nothing worth seeing, really!"

"Com' on, lemme see!" she protested, trying to take the notebook from his hands, but he dodged her swiftly.

Suddenly, they heard music. Rapunzel quickly turned to see a band that was just entering the plaza, playing a beautiful yet cheerful music. As the rhythm became faster, she started dancing along. Merida laughed when she saw her, but Rapunzel came and pulled her in her dance, and the redhead found herself dancing with her. Her feet seemed to be moving on their own, and she pulled Hiccup's arm, dragging him to dance with her. He gasped, but he had no option but to follow. His steps proved how clumsy he was at it, but he tried. Merida laughed as she took his hands and helped him along. Rapunzel started pulling random people into the dance as the music became faster and more cheery. The people were dazzled at first, but they soon gave in and started dancing along with the blonde, pulling a choreography out of nowhere. Rapunzel twirled among them, gracefully jumping and landing when the music required her to. She motioned her hand for Jack to come in and dance, smiling widely. The boy smiled back, but refused with a gesture of his hand. Merida glanced at him and, smiling naughtily, grabbed his arm when he wasn't paying attention, and pulled him in. He dropped his staff and was quickly dragged into the dance by the other people, and he glared at Merida in annoyance. The redhead laughed in response, as the dance went on and on. The music became more intense with every moment, and every single person dancing felt it inside of them. They all clapped their hands at once, they all turned and twirled in beautiful unison. Rapunzel had pulled them all together, and Rapunzel danced among all of them, her long braid trailing behind her with every turn. At a certain moment, Jack offered her his hand. She smiled and tried to take it, but was pulled into dancing with other person, and Jack was as well. Rapunzel smiled apologetically at him. But Jack's smile when looking at her was mischievous.

As the music reached the most intense point, Rapunzel grew more and more immersed in her dance. She closed her eyes and twirled. Her feet lifted from the ground and came back to it with an almost magical grace, following the rhythm that seemed to beat inside of her. Her long braid trailed behind her, her dress flew along with her as she twirled, and twirled... until she was stopped by Jack grabbing her hands, just as the music was finished. Their breathing was harsh, but they were smiling widely at each other. They stood mesmerized into each other's eyes for a moment, until they heard a voice.

"Awww, look at 'at. Isnae 'at romantic?"

Jack and Rapunzel quickly got separated, awkwardly clearing their throats and looking away from each other, and saw Merida and Hiccup looking at them with all-knowing smiles and raised eyebrows.

"Oh, shut up!" Rapunzel protested, feeling how her cheeks started flushing red. Merida laughed loudly, but gave her a hug.

"Com' on, let's head tae th' inn, it's gettin' late an' Ah want some dinner!"

"Real smooth, there, Jack" Hiccup whispered as Jack took his staff back and they walked towards the inn. Jack glared at him, and the Viking started laughing. "I think she likes you" he winked.

"You do?" Jack's eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Yeah" Hiccup smiled naughtily. "I don't think she'd be able to endure your constant flirting otherwise."

"Hey, I don't flirt constantly!" Jack protested.

"Ssssuuuuure you don't..."

When they entered the inn, Rapunzel and Jack sat with Merida and Hiccup while they had dinner, and talked about everything that had happened through the day. Rapunzel was particularly excited. They'd get to do more things tomorrow, and they would see the lanterns. She just couldn't wait, and it was shown in the way her eyes sparkled whenever she talked about it. The rest smiled and mostly let her do the talking. She deserved it. She deserved to enjoy every single moment; this was for her, after all. And the fact that they were having so much fun together simply made it better.

But Jack couldn't stay still for too long, now, could he? And he noticed that the waiters were serving not-very-alcoholic-but-still-alcoholic drinks to the customers. He mischievously smiled, and slid up from his seat when the rest were too busy discussing something. He sneaked up on the waiter (who, of course, couldn't see him) and changed the drinks he was carrying for the alcoholic ones. Of course, the drinks ended up on his friends' table. And he got one for Rapunzel, too. Obviously, he made sure his drink was just a normal one... he wouldn't want to get drunk and lose all the fun.

"Hey, guys" he said, smiling as he held up his mug. "How about a toast?"

"A toast for what?" Hiccup asked.

"Fur us!" Merida said, holding up her mug.

"And for our friendship!" Rapunzel added, and they all said it again in unison. "For our friendship!"

The mugs touched together and they drank a good sip from them.

"Huh... this drink tastes a little bit weird?" Rapunzel looked at her drink in confusion.

"Yeah, mine does, too..." Hiccup agreed. "But I kinda like it."

"Who cares!" Merida laughed, putting her arm over Rapunzel's shoulders. "Let's celebrate!"

"Celebrate what?" Jack asked in amusement as he watched her taking another sip.

"Ah dunno... 'at we're finally haur!" she smiled, holding up her drink again. "We deserve tae celebrate, tonecht!" her accent was becoming stronger as she drank.

All of them laughed and made another toast for their travels. They had traveled a long way there, and they deserved to celebrate their success, indeed. They kept drinking, and their low tolerance to alcohol caused them to feel dizzy after three cups. That, given the fact that the drinks didn't really have a lot of alcohol in them.

"Wow... heeeey, why are you all... moving so much?" Rapunzel asked, blinking for her eyes to focus.

"It's you who's moving...!" Hiccup replied, looking a little bit... stoned. That's the word.

"Heeeeey, ye guys..." Merida hiccuped, and giggled. "Let's make another toest! Fur freedom!" she almost fell on her back when she held up her mug. Jack could barely contain his laughter.

"I think we've done enough toasts for today, Merida" he said, putting a finger in his mouth to avoid laughing out loud. Merida frowned at him, her lips in a pout.

"Ye cannae order me aroond!" she said, but she said it to Hiccup instead of Jack... due to her blurry vision.

"I wasn't ordering you around, neither was Hiccup" Jack was almost dying inside from all the laughter he had to contain. Oh, how much funnier would things get?

"Hey, Jack" Rapunzel called for him, but stumbled upon Merida due to her dizziness. "Ooops, sorry, Meri... Jack?"

"Here, Punz" he called, hardly able not to laugh. Of course, he couldn't laugh if he didn't want to be found out by them. But it was _so fun_.

"Hey, Jack" she smiled that sleepy smile at him through her blurred vision. She reached up her arms towards him as if for a hug. "Give me a kiss..."

Okay, that wasn't funny anymore. If only Jack could blush he'd be burning red.

"W-WHAT?"

"Ooooooo, kissy kissy!" Merida smooched her lips together in mockery.

"S-shut up! Punz, you're not thinking straight... uh... I'll take you to bed okay!?" Jack tried to get out of the situation, but Rapunzel put her arms around his neck and pouted.

"Whyyyyy? Don't you liiiiike me?" she drawled, frowning a little.

"T-that's not the question!" he replied, his frustration slowly growing every second. His heart was beating so fast it made him feel uncomfortable. "Look, you have to sleep, alright? And these two really need to go to bed too!" he glared at Hiccup and Merida, who kept making smoochy noises and laughing uncontrollably.

Hiccup laughed so much he began to hiccup. Ironically enough. Merida noticed that and started laughing at him, snorting at times. Jack sighed. Alright. That was getting annoying. He'd gotten a good laugh out of it, though. He just had to endure Rapunzel's harrassment, Merida's snorts and Hiccup's hiccups for about a half hour more before they all passed out on the table, sleeping like little children. Jack noticed the innkeeper glaring at them. He sighed and started carrying them upstairs. He began with Hiccup, practically dragging him to the room he was supposed to share with him. While carrying Merida upstairs, he suddenly got an idea and smiled. He took Merida to the room where Hiccup was sleeping, and put her on the same bed as him. He chuckled uncontrollably as he thought, oh, and it couldn't hurt to take Hiccup's shirt off, too, right? And so he did. He carefully covered them with the sheets and locked the door behind him, as he muffled his laughter with his hands.

"Oh, I can just imagine their faces tomorrow... this is going to be priceless!"

Of course, that meant he'd be in the same room as Rapunzel. And that was definitely a plus, wasn't it now?

He went and picked the blonde up in his arms. He was lucky no one noticed an invisible force carrying unconscious bodies up the stairs. The inn was pretty packed for anyone to pay too much attention, luckily. Jack sighed as he put the girl down on one of the beds, carefully not to undo her beautiful braid. He covered her up with the bed covers and smiled when he saw her open mouth. She was cute even when she drooled over the pillow.

"Ah... just what is getting into me?" he muttered, running a hand through his hair.

_**Aw, Jack. You so naughty.**_

_**I had fun writing this. I hope you had fun reading it, too. As always, everything you guys do, like reviewing, favoriting, following or simply reading, is greatly appreciated. I'm really happy to see people are enjoying my story. See you soon!**_

_**Oh, edit: I also managed to include one of my history lessons in there. Guess where? Yep! I just couldn't help but to think of Merida when we talked about Boudicca in class. She was an awesome, brave and fierce woman. Just like Meri, amirite?**_


	17. Extra 2: Nightmare

_**Hiya guysssssss. SO, first of all, I'd like to apologize for the delay and for the fact that I'm not even bringing a chapter, just an extra. This is due to the fact that I usually write on Fridays and weekends because of my classes, but this week I had a test scheduled for today (German, guuh) and I couldn't do anything else. Sorry!**_

_**Secondly, I got some questions and stuffs in the reviews I would like to answer before you get to reading this thing.**_

_**1: FrozenLanterns wrote "How could Jack join the dance?", and that is indeed a good question. The thing is, I commited that mistake without realizing. Yep. People are not supposed to see Jack and I just screwed up. Let's just pretend that the people who danced with him (who were not too many, really) were in fact able to see him. Let's just do that. Okay.**_

_**2: I got this question from both FrozenLanterns and... a Guest. "Why/how can people see Rapunzel?" I'm sure many of you are wondering, and I'm afraid I can't answer that right now. There's a reason for that and it will be explained later in the story, I promise (I don't know whether it's a very convincing reason or not, but hey, this is fiction alright).**_

_**3: Many people were wondering why Toothless didn't like Merida. Well, he didn't instantly open up to Hiccup, did he? And the whole instant-liking thing just didn't fit for Merida. It works for Rapunzel, with her naturally lovely self, but Merida is more difficult to deal with, so I didn't think that Toothless would instantly open up and trust her; I also thought it'd be more fun, Merida dying for having a ride on his back and he refusing in such a sassy dragon way. Oh well.**_

_**and 4: SweetLittleGirl16 wrote that "This is rushed, it can be seen". I think I understand why it may seem like that. I didn't talk a lot about their trip to Corona and it seems like it didn't take as long as it did. I should probably have included more bonding and stuff of the sort. But I didn't, because I didn't know how to make them get closer to each other without the chapters being boring or uneventful. There are some chapters that show they're getting close, and that's as far as I can get. I want to go on with the actual plot without including as many side chapters with secondary adventures and stuff like that. I hope I'm explaining myself correctly. However, I wouldn't say chapter 14 in particular seems rushed. I mean, I took a lot of time to write it and I made sure they messed around quite a lot through the day; they've been together for quite a long time and have fun together as friends. It wasn't meant to have any real plot-related action, and that's why I'm writing this extra, a sort of a while-they're-messing-around-this-happened thing.**_

_**Okay that was long. This isn't a really long thing but it's all I can give you while I get chapter 15 ready. So yeah. Here you go.**_

Bunnymund was in his element. His face was never as bright and happy as it was in Easter. Bringing Easter was not only his job; it was his passion, the thing he loved to do. And that was plain to see in every move, every action he made. The other Guardians smiled as they watched how flowers bloomed, opening up their petals to show... little white eggs. Their eyes watched in astonishment as the eggs grew little legs and started walking through the beautiful green underground gardens. Sandy made an egg out of sand and showed his amusement and excitement clapping his hands with a smile.

Tooth flew above them and watched how the flowers snorted colored powder, panting every single egg on their range. She smiled at the sight. Bunnymund jumped along with the eggs, supervising the process. The little things got painted in pink, blue, yellow... the colors of Easter.

"It's time to strike back, and that means eggs, eggs everywhere!" Bunnymund chirped. "Spring will come to every single continent, and I'll bring hope to them!" his voice was strong and overflowing with happiness. Sandy smiled when he saw him like that.

The little eggs kept walking, pushing one of North's little elves right into the pool of bright polish they were falling into. North took out one of them and examined it closely.

"Well that's... a little weird."

"Nah mate" Bunnymund replied, holding various eggs on his arms and smiling. "That's adorable."

Seeing Bunny so happy did bring hope to the other's hearts. After Pitch robbing Tooth's palace, they all felt devastated. But Bunny had brought hope to them; Easter would keep children believing in the Guardians, even when Tooth couldn't collect their teeth; it eased their worries to think that children would keep believing. Children were... their everything, the very reason for their existence.

"Now, all we have to do is send these little buddies through the tunnels, to the outside. And we get a flawless Egg Hunt!" Bunny proudly stood as the eggs made their way up through five or six different tunnels that would lead them to the surface.

"Oh, children are going to love these" Tooth smiled, lightly patting the tiny eggs with her hand. "They look beautiful!"

"I hope they'll have fun looking for them" Bunny said, smiling lovingly and proudly at his creations, but the Guardians' faces saddened at the mention of 'fun'. _Snowballs and fun times._

Bunny noticed their change in attitude. "Look, we shouldn't think of them right now" he patted their backs. "They're not going to come back anytime soon. We should focus on the present."

"I think... they just needed time" Tooth said, looking down. "They were very young, after all... Maybe they just wanted some time to figure themselves out."

"Maybe" North conceded. Sandman nodded, but it was plain to see he wasn't so sure about that. Those teenagers surely were some free spirits.

"What do you say we go see how our eggs are going?" Bunnymund tried to cheer them up, and he guided them through one of the tunnels.

But they did not walk long.

The sounds of breaking, scattering, and deafening animal cries echoed all over the walls. It was a slaughter. Nightmares ran after the poor little eggs, smashing them with their claws and legs with no mercy. The eggs stood no chance against those creatures. Bunnymund cried and threw his boomerangs at the black monsters, trying to catch his little creations in his paws without much success. North, Tooth and Sandy quickly attacked the demonic animals, but for each one they could destroy, a hundred eggs were smashed and broken, their colorful shells scattered all over the ground. And it was no doubt this same terrible, awful thing was happening in all of the other tunnels the eggs went through.

As the Guardians fought, they heard the evil laugh. And Pitch appeared from nowhere, his hands lovingly caressing two of the nightmares beside him.

"What do you think of my little creatures, Bunnymund?" he asked, smiling in satisfaction. "Are they not efficient?"

"You..." Bunnymund was enraged. His eyes seemed to catch fire as he got up from his knees, holding some of the broken egg shells on his hand. "You bastard! How could you!? You _destroyed_ them!"

"That was the plan" Pitch's smile grew even wider. "Isn't it marvelous? Easter will never reach your precious children. All that will ever reach them, is the disappointment, and the certainty... that Guardians are just fairy tales, and nothing more."

"Pitch, how dare you!?" Tooth's eyes were filled with tears. "First my teeth, and now... now this!? Is there an end to your madness!?"

"To my madness, maybe..." the dark man replied. "But my reign of shadows and nightmares... that, will never know an end."

Sandman furiously swung his whips of golden sand towards him. Pitch simply dodged it, but the other Guardians came after him. They killed every nightmare that tried to attack them, heading only for Pitch. But it wouldn't be as easy. More and more nightmares were created from Pitch's black sand, and they surrounded them, avoiding them to reach for their creator. Sandman was the only one whose attacks could reach Pitch, and he was too busy slaughtering the load of nightmares that the Boogeyman had sent after him. Tooth screamed for help when the nightmares became too many for her to handle, and Sandman tried to help her. Pitch took advantage from that distraction.

He created an arrow from his black sand and aimed it for Sandman's heart. He shot. And he hit his aim.

Sandman's face was surprised. He couldn't put a finger on what was hurting him so much at first, but it didn't take long for him to realize that the black sand was spreading through his body. Corrupting him, slowly killing him. The other Guardians could only stare in shock as Sandman's gold started becoming... pitch black.

The Boogeyman's laugh echoed through the tunnels. "See!? He is falling first! But after him, you will all fall, Guardians! You will slowly decay! Children won't ever believe in any of you again... and my glory shall be reborn!" he laughed histerically as he disappeared in a wave of black smoke.

"NO!" Tooth cried, and so did North and Bunnymund as they ran to Sandman's side. He closed his eyes, in utter sadness, as he vanished completely in the black sand, that was spread away as if moved by a non-existent wind.

"No... it can't be" North's eyes filled with tears.

"Easter... is lost" Bunnymund's voice was weak and desperate. "Easter is destroyed. And dreams are destroyed. There's no hope... no hope" he fell on his knees, staring at the scattered eggs all over the ground, tears falling from his green eyes. Tooth buried her face in her hands and cried, grieving the loss of their beloved friend... and the loss of all the hope they had left.

The egghunts had no eggs. No matter where or how much the children looked, there were no eggs to be seen, anywhere. Some young ones cried, and the older ones threw their baskets away in disappointment and sadness. "I guess there's no Easter bunny, then", was what they said. "It's all a lie, isn't it?"

Meanwhile, at the other side of the world, four teenagers were asleep. Jack had fallen into slumber sitting by the window, watching the blonde Rapunzel sleep. Merida and Hiccup were soundly sleeping, soft snores coming out of the redhead's mouth. But suddenly, their slumber was no longer deep and calm. They fidgeted and moved uneasily, their faces frowning. All except Rapunzel, who kept on sleeping like a little child.

Jack was the first on waking up. His heart beat fast, cold sweat ran down his back (not like his sweat wasn't cold normally) and the sensation of fear, of enormous fear, was still lingering in his chest. He breathed heavily as he tried to calm himself down. "It was just a dream" he murmured to himself, again and again. "Just a dream, Jack. Calm down."

He slowly recovered from the fright, sighing. What had the nightmare been about, anyway?

Hiccup was next. His fear was so tremendous, he sat up on the bed, gasping for air, holding a hand over his chest to try and calm his wild heartbeat. He didn't even notice the red-headed girl lying by his side, still fidgeting uneasily. He laid back down with a sigh, as his heart slowly stopped pounding on his ears, his body relaxed and his cold sweat dried out. He couldn't put a finger on what he had dreamed about to be this scared... but it sure had made him jump. He calmed down and he slowly, slowly fell back into sleep.

Merida was last. It is surprising her gasp didn't wake up the sleeping Viking by her side. The nightmare had been horrible. It made her sweat cold and be afraid of the darkness surrounding her. And Merida was not easily scared. She laid back down and breathed in and out deeply to calm herself. It seemed to work. She couldn't remember what was the nightmare about, and maybe it was better that way. She decided to not give it any further thought, and went back to sleep, getting rid of all the fear.

Rapunzel was the only one whose sleep hadn't been disturbed. She kept dreaming whatever happy thing she was dreaming about, with a slight smile over her pink lips. Jack smiled too, when he saw her like that. He was glad she wasn't having one of those awful dreams. But he didn't really dream, either, did he now? That nightmare... for sure, it wasn't normal.

Before going back to sleep, the others had decided to discuss it with their partners the next morning. However, when they woke up... they didn't have any time to give the nightmares, whatever they were about, any thought.


	18. Chapter 15: Lights

_**Hey, guess what? I finished it! I really did!**_

_**I very much apologize for the delay, guys. You just can't imagine how tired I feel through the week, and I got another test set for Monday on which I'm afraid I maybe won't do so good. Oh well.**_

_**Can you guess what's in this one? You probably can. Yeeeesss.**_

Jack was awake when the sun was already high up in the sky. The light entered the windows and filled the room, but Rapunzel was still asleep. He thought it was cute for her to oversleep and he decided to leave her alone... mainly because he still wanted to hear what Merida and Hiccup would have to say. They should be awake by now, but strangely enough, he hadn't heard any hysterical screaming or the sounds of stuff being thrown yet. That was fine, though; he wasn't impatient when it came to good pranks. Besides, Rapunzel's sight was enough to keep him entertained while he waited.

What he didn't know was that Merida was, indeed, awake. Having just rubbed the sleep off her eyes, she had just started to think about the nightmare she'd had last night, when she noticed there was something warm occupying space on her bed. She put her hair away from her eyes with one of her hands to look at it, and when she did, well... Her eyes had never opened that wide before.

It was Hiccup. It was, indeed, Hiccup. And he was shirtless. He was still asleep. He was lying beside her, drooling over the pillow. And did I mention that he was shirtless?

She could _feel_ her face becoming red, about as red as her hair, and her heart started beating fast. Rage started building up inside of her, but she didn't really want to throw a hissy fit because _oh hell she might have actually brought him there herself_. What did she even remember about last night? Barely anything after the first couple toasts, and the time she woke up in the middle of the night. The rest was a total blur. And that was not nice, let me tell you.

Merida got up, breathing heavily and anxiously pulling her hair back with her hands, her fingers getting stuck in its many knots. Thoughts ran wildly through her head as she tried her best to calm down and think rationally. Okay, first things first. Did she have her...? Oh, thank goodness she had her underwear on. Alright, that must mean... that MUST mean they didn't do... _that thing_, whatever that thing adults do is. Now she was ready to throw a hissy fit.

I'm positive that the way she screamed Hiccup's name could be heard in the entire city. Jack was startled when he heard it, but smiled naughtily. "Ah, finally."

Of course, the most startled one was Hiccup. He screamed as he fell out of the bed and hit his butt right on the wooden floor. "Ouch! Merida, what the crap was that scream for...!?" he was glaring at her until he noticed his upper body part feeling a bit... naked. Yeah. He gasped and covered himself up with the bed sheets, instantly blushing. Needless to say he didn't remember much about last night either, aside from the waking up from the nightmare thing. Ah, the havoc of alcohol.

The list of insults that Merida let out right then was extensive and surprisingly varied, worthy of the roughest and toughest of the Highlander sailors, but too offensive to write down here, I'm afraid. Poor Hiccup had to hear them all while embarrassingly covering himself with the bed sheets and while Jack was closely listening and muffling his uncontrollable laughter by covering his mouth with his hands. The only surprising thing about this all was that Rapunzel slept through all of it.

"... an' yoo're... yoo're...!" it seemed like Merida had finally run out of insults to say. Her cheeks and ears were really, really red, and her whole self showed the embarrassment she felt. Much to her dismay, she was as easy to read as an open book.

"... Can... Can I speak now?" Hiccup asked, still hesitant. "Unless you have any more words to describe me, that is."

"..." Merida stared at him in indignation, but crossed her arms and turned her back on him. "Ah think 'at's all fur now" she harshly replied.

"Good" Hiccup sighed and rubbed his neck. He then noticed his shirt lying on the floor and quickly put it back on himself. "Listen, I... I can't remember much from last night either. But what I'm sure about is... that, even if I was drunk, I wouldn't do anything you didn't want to, Merida."

She turned around with a surprised, then enraged face. "What aur ye insinuatin'!?" she rolled up her sleeves as if she was about to punch him. Which she probably was.

He quickly waved his hands in denial to stop her. "No, no! You're misunderstanding it! IT WAS MEANT TO BE A NICE THING! AAAH, WHY DOES EVERYTHING I SAY NOW SOUND WRONG!?"

Merida stopped on her tracks and snorted. She couldn't help it, so she quickly turned her back on him, covering her mouth with her hand. "Why am Ah even laughin'?" she muttered, slightly giggling. And then she heard it. The laughter. Coming from the room right nearby. "Oh?" she listened closely. It was quickly muffled, but she had already heard it. She raised one of her eyebrows. "Well, if 'at wasnae Jack..."

"Did you hear it too?" Hiccup said, frowning, and she nodded.

"Aam willin' tae bet thes was all his doin'. Aam definitely gonnae kill him thes time" she declared, grabbing her bow and arrows from the side of the bed. Hiccup gulped, but he did want to get back to Jack for what had probably been the biggest fright of his life yet.

So he followed Merida when she got out of the room and knocked on the next door. "Jaaaaack" she cooed. "Why don't ye com' out, sweetie pie?" Hiccup's eyes opened wide to that. Merida was far more scarier when she acted like that than when she was angry. And that, I assure you, is no joke.

"Whoops" Jack smiled, inside of the room. "Well, Punz, I think it's time to wake up" he walked up to the side of her bed and blew snowflakes over her face. "Hey, Rapunzel. Wake up and protect me from the wrath of your friend, yeah?" the only reaction he got was her hand brushing away the snowflakes from her face. Jack put a hand on her shoulder and lightly shook her. "Punz, come on, sleepyhead."

"Hmmmm?" she groaned, slowly opening her eyes and blinking due to the sunlight entering the room. The first thing she saw was the winter spirit's face, and she smiled at him, her eyes still half closed. "Hi, Jack."

He felt a sudden and unexplainable urge to kiss the heck out of that sleepy smile she was giving him. Then, he noticed Pascal glaring at him, and realized how close he was to her. He quickly got up and cleared his throat with his heart throbbing in his chest, embarrassed by his own thoughts. "Um, hey! Uh, good morning, and... stuff. Hey, I think Merida is just about to kill me, so I'd be thankful if you would, you know, protect me" he smiled at her as she got up from the mattress, yawning.

"Oh? What did you do this time?" she asked, stretching her arms. Miraculously enough, her braid looked more or less like it was yesterday. Maybe slightly more messy, but still pretty.

"Oh, nothing much" Jack whistled, evading the subject.

"Jaaaack, if ye don't com' out, Aam gonnae have tae go an' get ye..."

"Wow" Rapunzel giggled. "That sounds really scary. I'm not sure if you'll get away with it this time" she walked up to the door and opened it. "Good morning, Meri...!" she didn't even get to finish the sentence before Merida ran up to Jack and tried to choke him with the cord of her bow.

"YE GAWD-DAMNED WINTER SPIRIT AAM GONNAE CHOKE YER BRAINS OUT YE SON AY A...!"

"OKAY, OKAY, I THINK THAT'S ENOUGH FOR NOW!" Rapunzel intervened, and she and Hiccup needed to join their strengths to get the redhead away from Jack. She was panting and mumbling a lot of painful and bloody ways of killing I'm not going to write down in case I'd be giving out ideas to any serial killers out there. "Now, now, Meri, now" Rapunzel cooed as she caressed her red, messy locks. "Was Jack a bad boy today?"

"As always, ye mean" she huffed, glaring at the winter spirit, who gave back a 'sorry' smile as he rubbed his pained neck.

"I'm sure he's sorry for whatever it is he did to you, right, Jack?" Rapunzel glared at him, and he immediately nodded, kind of alarmed by the sudden murderous look in her eyes. "Good! See?" Rapunzel's eyes were all happy and chirpy again. "We're all friends now! Yay!"

"Yeah, alright" Hiccup mumbled, and gave Jack one of those looks that intend to kill the other person. "Next time you do something like that I'm sending Toothless up on your ass."

"Whoa" Jack put his hands up as a sign of forfeit. "I didn't mean to make you both so angry" he chuckled. "I guess my prank was successful?"

"Depends on your definition of that word" Hiccup replied. "But I'll let you know, I'm dead serious. Toothless may be called Toothless but I assure you he can grow teeth when he wants to."

"Hey, hey, we're friends, remember?" Rapunzel patted their backs. "Come on, let's get out of here! I'm so excited for today!"

Rapunzel's natural chirpy happiness soon contagied the others. She had them running around through town in search for breakfast. The pancakes they stuffed themselves with were accompanied by wild berries and cream. And they were delicious. They also enjoyed putting cream over each other's faces and laughing at how stupid they looked. Just for the giggles.

After that, it seemed like Rapunzel still had lots of exploring to do. But Merida refused to be dragged around by the hand like the day before and pushed Jack to occupy her place; that might as well serve her as a little revenge for that morning. They spent the morning browsing the market and tasting the traditional goodies of Corona's gastronomy, having a sort of a _brunch _thing. After lunch, they heard music coming from the big plaza they had danced in the day before. When they went to have a look (Jack struggling to keep up with Rapunzel, who had him caught by his arm), they encountered various spectacles there.

"Oh!" Rapunzel was amazed at the sight of the stage, the decorations and all the marvelous things happening around them. "What is all of this? It looks beautiful!"

"Street spectacles" Jack noted as they walked among them.

There were jugglers juggling with balls, knives and even lit torches, a man making enormous bubbles that floated beautifully in the air, a magician, a painter painting portraits of people, and even some acrobats. The same band of musicians as the day before was playing over a stage. The blonde squealed in delight and ran from here to there, unable to stay still, unable to take in everything at a time. She accidentally pushed some people around in her excitement, and Merida and Hiccup had to apologize for her several times, but they didn't mind. Seeing her that happy was worth it.

The three of them were very protective about Rapunzel. Merida knew there was something pure and unique about her, and she wanted to protect that; she wanted her to remain that way. Hiccup felt something tender, sisterly-like for the blonde one; her eyes filled with innocence and wonder when she sat near him to hear the stories he had to tell made him smile, and he wanted her to remain that way. As for Jack, he saw her light, and he thought it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He was aware that he could do anything to preserve that light boasting inside of her, and that he'd do anything to keep her beside him. Rapunzel wasn't the strongest or the bravest of them, but she was the most special.

Making her biggest dream come true was the least they could do, right?

The afternoon went by in a flash. When the musicians got off the stage, decorations were prepared over it, and seats were set right before the stage. A man called the people and invited them to have a seat.

"Seems to be a play about to start" Hiccup noticed.

"A play?" Rapunzel's eyes glimmered. "Oh, let's get a seat and watch it! Pretty please?"

"Okay, okay, jest don't use yer puppy eyes on me!" Merida laughed and stepped up to grab some seats as near the stage as possible.

The play was actually really well performed by the actors and actresses. As Hiccup explained, it was a representation of the famous _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, in which the protagonists were fairies and most of the characters were magical creatures. The costumes were charmingly made, and as the afternoon went on and it got darker, the lightning on the stage became more magical thanks to the clever use of candles. You can only imagine the delicateness of the movements, the clear, musical voices claiming their final verses as dusk claimed the sky for itself. The actress playing Titania, the fairy queen, was particularly beautiful; maybe thanks to the carefully applied make up, her face had a majestic, mysterious air to it that seemed to distinguish her from the rest. Her costume was incredibly beautiful, a light cloth that flowed with every move she made. It was actually pretty funny in some parts, and they all had a good time watching it. Rapunzel was particularly fascinated by it, and Merida seemed to be mesmerized in the story as well. Jack had fun watching how they pictured fairies, wondering what would Toothiana think about that. Hiccup enjoyed himself, too, but, since he already knew how the story went, he had more fun watching Merida's face as it developed. Her reactions were fun to watch. Rapunzel's face didn't change that much; her expression of wonder and amazement, with wide smile and wide shining eyes didn't fade at any moment. Everything was wonderful to her at that moment. Little did she know how much more wonderful things could become.

When the play finished, the sun had already set. The actors and actresses joined their hands together and bowed as thanks for the strong applause of the public. One of the men left his hat on the ground and asked people to leave however much they'd like. Rapunzel was generous with the money she gave them and she congratulated them on the great performance with the brightest of her smiles.

"To the boats!" a man's voice echoed through the streets, and everyone got really excited all of a sudden, many people running over to some point in the harbor.

"It's time, isn't it?" Hiccup asked, and Jack nodded.

"Punz!" the winter spirit called her. "Come on!"

She ran to their side and they began walking. "Where are we going?" she asked, her heart beating fast. She knew it was near.

"You'll see" Jack smiled at her. She was weirded out by that answer, but followed him nonetheless. When they got near the waters where the boats were docked, Hiccup waved his hand goodbye. "I have to go and check on Toothless. I'll watch it with him."

"Can Ah go wi' ye?" Merida asked. Hiccup was surprised at first, but the redhead eloquently moved her eyes towards Rapunzel and Jack, and he understood what she wanted.

"Sure, why not?" he accepted with a knowing smile.

"See ye later!" Merida and him disappeared through an alley before Rapunzel could even object.

"Well, Punz?" when she noticed, Jack had already climbed up over a small boat and was motioning for her to come in. "What are you waiting for?" he smiled as he helped her in.

Jack rowed the boat towards the centre of the lake, and there they stood. Pascal (I haven't mentioned Pascal in a while, have I? Oh, my) was sitting on a corner, gazing at the night sky full of stars, but without a moon. A new moon night.

They waited there for a few moments, in silence. Jack helped Rapunzel get some of the flowers off of her hair, and he held them for her as she dropped them in the lake. She glanced at him for a moment and smiled. He was staring at her, again. Well, _of course_ she had noticed; one cannot say that he was exactly discreet about it. Maybe he didn't realize what he was doing. But it didn't make her uncomfortable. Quite the contrary. The way he stared at her had a certain something... something that made her _feel _like she was beautiful. She remembered about that one time when Merida and her were sitting next to each other, apart from the two boys, and Merida had asked her if she noticed how Jack stared at her with a mischievous smile.

"I did" Rapunzel had smiled, shyly playing with a lock of her hair. "I... I think he likes me, Meri" Merida let out a small squeal of delight when she heard that.

"Ah think sae, too!" she said, grabbing Rapunzel's hand between hers. The blonde's eyes filled with excitement.

"You do?"

"Yes!" Merida had giggled in such a silly way. She was just that happy. "Dae ye like him?"

"I..." Rapunzel hesitated a little. "I... I think I do, but... I'm not sure yet."

"Yoo'll fin' out soon enough" the redhead had replied, smiling.

And indeed, she had. Her heart throbbed in her chest whenever he was near, even if her nervousness wasn't noticeable. And, at that moment, with all that had happened, she felt kind of scared. And not only because of Jack. She sighed, and Jack noticed.

"Is something the matter, Punz?" he asked, realizing about her sudden change of mood.

"I..." she sighed again, and looked down at the calm water. "I've been looking out of a window for... who knows how many years. Dreaming about what I might feel like when those lights rise in the sky... What if it's not everything I dreamed it would be?"

Jack saw her dilemma, and saw how much she feared the disappointment.

"It will be" he said, but when she didn't reply, he added: "Come on, Punz. You've been dreaming about this for so long. You're not going to let it go now. You can't."

"And what if it is?" she asked, looking back at him. "What do I do, then?"

"That's the best part" he replied, and smiled. "You get to find a new dream. With us."

She blinked repeatedly in surprise, and then, smiled warmly. She could feel inside of her that he was right. When she glanced back at the clear water, her eyes caught a glowing dot reflecting over the surface. Her eyes opened wide, and she rushed over to the side of the boat, making the boat and her braid swing behind her as she gazed at the sky. It was a lantern.

After that one, many, hundreds, _thousands_ of lanterns were released up in the sky above. Rapunzel's mouth hung open in pure wonder. The lights shone everywhere, anywhere he looked, and they all slowly floated over the lake. Soon, the boat was surrounded by the beautiful lanterns. Rapunzel felt tears of happiness in the back of her eyes. She rested her head against her hands as she gazed at the wonderful sight in awe. After a moment, she turned to face Jack, who was smiling at her. She smiled back and sat back in front of him.

"Jack, I..." she began, but her own laughter forbid her from going on. She put her fingers over her lips, which couldn't stop smiling. "I'm just... so happy!"

He laughed, too, because her happiness made him happy as well. And the spectacle of lanterns was nothing to snuff at; the sight just made your heart feel so light it could float among the lanterns. Jack gazed into Rapunzel's eyes, which seemed to reflect every single light around them, and they smiled at each other. The winter spirit mustered the courage to reach for her hands, and she grabbed a hold of his.

"Hey" he suddenly said. "Have you ever done ice skating before?"

She blinked in confusion. "Ice skate? No, never. Why?"

He smiled, a wide, lopsided, naughty, yet warm smile. He grabbed his staff with one hand as he held Rapunzel's hand with the other. He glided the staff over the water, which instantly froze to the touch, and stepped out of the boat, over the ice he had created. He motioned for Rapunzel to come along, but she hesitated.

"Uh, Jack, I... I'm not sure. I've never done it before" she said, one of her hands over her chest, the other still holding Jack's. "What if I fall?"

"I'll catch you" he reassuringly smiled. "I won't let anything happen to you, Punz. Really."

She smiled, but still remained reluctant for a moment. "Do you trust me?" he asked, looking into her eyes. And she nodded and walked out of the boat, stepping over the cold ice with her bare feet. "Eep!" she yelped. "It's really cold!"

"It'll be fine, you'll get used to it in a moment, I promise" Jack held her hand tightly. "Tell me when your feet are feeling too cold, okay?" she nodded to that, and he smiled. "Now, don't let go of my hand, and just... slide."

He started gliding his feet over the ice, and she imitated him. Jack froze the lake with his staff as they advanced. Rapunzel was unsure at first, but soon, she started letting herself go. She laughed as her feet slid over the cold surface, as if she was dancing. The lanterns were all around them, creating a beautiful scenery for the two of them. She let go of Jack's hand when she felt sure enough, and she slid with ease over the ice, the more she did it, the better she felt. Her braid trailed behind her as she extended her arms and giggled in utter happiness as she ice skated among lanterns. Jack followed her closely, making sure to keep creating more ice for them, but smiling as he watched her enjoy herself so much. Rapunzel started twirling, but she wasn't quite ready for that yet; she slipped and fell, but Jack quickly caught her, holding her closely by her waist as Rapunzel grabbed a hold of his shoulders and stabilized herself.

"You alright?" he asked, with his smile adorning his lips. She looked up at him and smiled back.

"Yeah. Thank you."

"Nah. I did say I wouldn't let anything happen to you, didn't I?"

Jack was still holding her waist tightly against him, and Rapunzel's hands were still over his shoulders. Their eyes just wouldn't look away from each other's gaze.

"Jack?"

"Hm?"

"Why do you stare at me so much?"

Their faces had become really close without them even noticing. Their noses could almost touch, but their gazes were still intertwined. They weren't really thinking of anything that wasn't the one in front of them.

"Because you're incredibly beautiful, Punz" Jack answered, and reached down to kiss her in the lips.

Rapunzel trembled pleasantly when their lips touched, and she put her arms around his neck as the kiss deepened a bit. It was warm, and tender, and it simply felt right. It felt like every single thing on the universe was just where it belonged.

When they separated, Rapunzel was blushing furiously. Jack smiled when he saw how red her cheeks were, and lightly caressed them with his fingers. That made her smile as she looked up at him.

"You always knew I liked you, didn't you?" Jack asked, smiling back.

"It was a lucky guess" Rapunzel replied with her naughty smile, earning a soft chuckle from him as he kissed her again.

_**There it is! YAY FOR JACKUNZEL GOODNESS AMIRITE?**_

_**Well, I'm sorry if it's not really that well written, but, as said before, I'm tired, and I did the best I could, pinky promise.**_

_**As always, I would like to thank you for all your support. Whatever it is. Following, favoriting, reviewing, reading. I honestly appreciate it and I'm glad you guys are sticking through this. Love you all kay?**_


	19. Chapter 16: Disappearance

_**Hiya! I'm excited about this one, because, from here... sh*t's gonna go down. YEP. I wanted to upload it as soon as I had it because you guys are really patient with me when I can't keep up with the chapters, so yeah, here you go.**_

Hiccup smiled when Toothless climbed down a tree and sniffed the basket he'd brought him.

"Hey, bud. Thought you'd be hungry. What do you say?" he offered the basket full of fish to the dragon, who happily purred and digged his head into it. Hiccup chuckled. "Yeah, thought so."

Merida smiled. She sat down by the shore of the lake, peacefully watching the sky scattered with stars. Hiccup sat down beside her.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked. "Maybe we'd get a better view from there."

"Nah" she shook her head. "Ah like it haur."

"Okay" he replied, and watched the stars along with her. "Do you know how to recognize the constellations?"

"Constellations? What aur they?" Merida rose one of her eyebrows in curiosity.

"You don't know?" Hiccup was surprised.

"Ne'er heard ay them" she answered, and waited for his explanation.

"Oh, well..." Hiccup rubbed his neck with one hand. "They're, like... patterns, formed by the stars" Merida seemed surprised when she heard that. "Yeah. Look, see those stars over there? They're shaped like... a cart, sort of" he pointed at them with his index finger, and the redhead nodded. "That's the Ursa Major, the _big bear_. And see those on that other side? They're on the same shape, but smaller. That's the Ursa Minor, or the _little bear_."

Merida watched in fascination as she began to notice the incredible many shapes the stars were in, while Hiccup pointed them out for her and told her their names and stories. She never knew such wonders existed up there. Their necks hurt from looking up too much, so they ended up lying over the grass, next to each other, in a more comfortable position for star-gazing. Toothless finished his food and laid beside Hiccup, imitating their position in his funny way.

"Thes is amazin', Hic" Merida whispered, her eyes sparkly. "How dae ye know sae much?"

"Oh, I just... I used to read a lot on my spare time, back at home" he shrugged. "I guess it just stayed in my memory."

"It's nae 'at common fur a Vikin' tae read 'at much, is it?" she smiled, turning her head to look at him. He looked back at her with a resigned smile.

"I'm used to uncommon things, I guess."

She lightly laughed, and when she looked back at the night sky, she noticed a particularly big dot of light floating over the lake. She rose up, blue eyes wide open. "Hic! Look!"

Hiccup rose up too, and they both watched in wonder as the lanterns started rising up in the sky. First dozens, then hundreds, then thousands, they floated all over the city and the lake, as if they were fireflies.

"Wow" Hiccup breathed. "It's amazing."

Merida was too breathtaken to talk. She just watched as a smile spread over her face. Hiccup glanced over at her and he thought he could see every single light reflected on her eyes. He wasn't supposed to be watching her instead of the floating lanterns, was he? Toothless bumped his shoulder with his nose and showed a very eloquent expression on his dragon face. Hiccup blushed and lightly pushed the dragon aside. He didn't want to admit, but he _was _growing fond of Merida. He shouldn't be. A girl like that would never even think of falling for a talking fishbone like him.

"Hey, Hic" Merida spoke, making him rise his eyes to look back at her. "Um... dae ye think Jack an' Punzie... kissed?"

"Wha?" he jumped, blushing once again. "I... I don't know. I guess?"

"Yeah" she held her knees to her chest with both her arms, looking back at the lanterns. "Ah think they really love each other. Ah wood like tae have somethin' like 'at. Someday."

"Ah..." Hiccup was surprised by her words, and awkwardly cleared his throat. "Well, I... I'm sure there are plenty of Highlander lads that would offer themselves for that."

"Don't be sae sure" she replied, huffing. "Ah was havin' mah betrothal when ye found me, remember? Men wood only want me 'cause Aam princess, nae 'cause they like me fur who Ah am. Well... tae be honest, Ah don't think anyone wood like me fur who Ah am" those words sounded surprisingly bitter.

"What?" Hiccup frowned. "Don't say such nonsense, Merida. We like you for who you are!" he blushed and looked away before finishing: "I do."

"But 'at's different" she smiled. "Yoo're mah friend."

Yeah. Friend. The word had never sounded so bitter to him. What a hopeless guy he was.

"Aam nae good wife material, ye know" she sighed. Hiccup stood silent, because she was probably right about that, and because he didn't really feel like talking now.

Toothless groaned, rolling his eyes in exasperation. Why had he been cursed with dealing with such dense people?

The two teenagers just sat silently watching the floating lights for a while, until Hiccup got tired of the awkward silence and of his own poisoned feelings. Why was he such a mess, now? She didn't like him, so what, not a big deal, right? Why did he even feel like he wanted to throw himself down in the lake? Not like he even liked her that much. He sighed and got up. She looked up at him in confusion.

"I..." he stammered, avoiding her eyes. "I'm going back now. I'm tired."

"Oh" Merida said. "Okay."

"Yeah. Good night" he hurriedly walked away, back into the city.

Merida watched him go, in confusion. Why was he acting so weird all of a sudden? She turned to look at Toothless, who was giving her an exasperated glare. "What?" she asked, but the dragon just turned his back on her and walked away. "Och, yeah. Ignore me" she rolled her eyes. "Great. What did Ah dae?" she rested her chin over her knees, pouting. "Ah thought we waur doin' well" she sighed. "Ur maybe nae" she frowned, feeling the tears on the back of her eyes. She didn't know whether they were tears of frustration or rage with herself. "That's jest how stupid Ah am."

Hiccup walked through the almost empty streets (a vast majority of people were gathered at the plaza, the castle's courtyard or the boats) with his fists clenched, biting his lower lip from time to time. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "Should I have told her? It would have been out of place, right? Right?" he groaned. "Oh, why is this so complicated? If she sees me as a friend, there's nothing I can do! Why do I care so much anyway?" When he walked past the harbor, he saw two people standing over the lake, surrounded by the slowly falling lanterns. He was astonished, until he realized they were standing over ice, and that could only mean one thing... Yes, he recognized Rapunzel's long braid and Jack's staff. The two of them were holding hands and staring at each other, their noses touching. Hiccup smiled at the sight, tenderly yet sadly. He turned his back and kept walking, leaving them in their privacy. He wished his night had ended on such a happy note. He didn't want a kiss, he didn't even ask for that much, but leaving for bed without those bitter, messy feelings would've been a nice touch.

Oh, well, what can you do. He let himself fall over the bed, buried his face in the pillow, cried a little bit of manly tears, just to release his frustation, and fell asleep.

Rapunzel and Jack didn't stay too long after. Rapunzel's feet were getting cold, so Jack brought her back to the boat, where Pascal was peacefully sleeping, and rowed back to shore. They walked their way back to the inn with their hands intertwined, peacefully talking about anything that came to their minds. It was plain to see that both of them had never been that happy before. Rapunzel opened the door to her bedroom and turned to say goodnight.

"Thanks for tonight, Jack" she said, smiling.

"No probs. We could repeat it whenever you want, you know. Especially the kissing part" he smiled naughtily. She laughed, her cheeks lightly blushing. "Hey, can I stay and watch you sleep? All through the night..." she laughed harder at that.

"Creep" she replied. "Good night, Jack."

"Good night, Punz" he answered, lightly kissing her lips.

She smiled at him and closed the door behind her. She sighed and rested her back over the wooden door, her cheeks red and a wide, goofy smile on her face. She then laid over the bed, and muffled her giggles with the pillow. Her heart felt as light as a feather. She felt a tickling sensation as her heart beat fast and she laid on her back, smiling at the ceiling. It was the first time she'd ever felt like that. Ever. She felt so silly, giggling and rolling over the bed. But she was too happy to even care. She couldn't wait until Merida came back. She wanted to tell her about it all.

Jack entered the room he shared with Hiccup with the dumbest smile he'd ever had on his face. He never thought he'd get a chance to experiment that kind of feelings. He was naturally flirty, it was a part of his personality. But that had nothing to do with his mindless flirting. That was something completely different, and he knew it. It just felt so good to know that she felt the same way, he didn't know what to do with all that happiness. A laugh escaped his lips, which he muffled with his hand. Hiccup, who was still awake, turned over his bed to face him. Of course he'd heard Jack laugh, and he was smiling in a very suggestive way. "Hey, Jack" he casually said. "So, how was it? Romantic evening, huh?"

"Your fault for leaving me alone with her" Jack chuckled, sitting over the bed that was supposed to be his.

"Yeah, should have known that you wouldn't be able to contain yourself around her" Hiccup laughed as well, and then faced the ceiling with a more serious smile. "Seriously, though. How was it?"

Jack sighed, resting his face on his staff. "I don't even know how to explain it. It was just... it was great. Really."

His voice was soft when he thought about it, and Hiccup smiled. He felt a little, just a little bit bitter inside. Jealousy, I believe it's called. "I'm glad for you. For both of you. You're lucky to have a girl like her falling for you" he noted, looking back at his friend. Jack nodded.

"I know. She's really special" he chuckled, unable to contain himself. "I still don't believe it."

"You really like her, eh?" Hiccup smiled.

"I do" Jack admitted, running a hand through his white hair. He turned his head to look at the Viking with curiosity. "What about you and Meri? Any progress?"

Hiccup's face saddened. "Nah. I think she sees me as just a friend, and nothing else. Not that I care too much, anyway."

Jack frowned. "Don't be stupid, Hic. Of course you care. You just hate to admit it."

"So what if I care?" Hiccup replied, his voice harsher. "It's not like a girl like her would ever be interested in me. I was stupid to think that."

"For heaven's sake, Hic" Jack sat up on the bed. "Why wouldn't she be interested in you!?"

"Because I'm not strong!" the Viking snapped, sitting up. "I'm not strong, I'm not skilled, I'm not a warrior, I'm not clever, I'm not brave, I'm not funny, I'm not... anything! There is _nothing _about me that could ever interest _anyone_! Especially Merida!"

Jack was dumbfounded. He stared at his friend in disbelief, and Hiccup turned his eyes away from him. "Hiccup" Jack said. "I... look. I have no idea what makes you think so poorly of you. But you're a great guy. You're an incredible guy, and if Merida doesn't realize, she's either too dense for words or she's just not worth the effort. Okay?"

Hiccup bit his lower lip. "That's easy for you to say."

The winter spirit blinked in confusion. "You're everything I'm not" Hiccup continued, still not looking directly at Jack. "You're handsome, funny and witty. You're strong. And Rapunzel doesn't see you as just a _friend_" his voice sounded sad, and pained. He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, it's not your fault. I'm just taking it out on you. I'm sorry."

Jack didn't know what to say. Hiccup sighed. "I didn't even realize I liked her until she said that word. _Friends_" he let out a small, bitter laugh. "Funny, isn't it?"

"Even if she did say that, I'm sure you still have a chance with her" Jack replied, but the other shook his head.

"You don't understand, Jack. Vikings and Highlanders have been fighting for centuries. Now, the war has died down, but they still hold a grudge against each other. Her parents wouldn't even let me be near her, and neither would my father."

"Good thing you're parents-free now, then" Jack noted.

"We won't be like this forever" Hiccup ran a hand through his hair. "She's a princess, and I'm the chief's son. We can't just be running away forever. And when we go back home... It's over between us" he stared at the ground with a frown. "She will get married to one of her suitors, a brave and strong Highlander warrior, and she'll become a queen. And I... well, I'll go back to being a constant disappointment for my father and try to prevent my entire tribe from killing every dragon in sight."

"Hiccup" Jack firmly grabbed him by his shoulders, forcing his green eyes to look into his blue ones. "Listen, I don't care whatever the people in your village made you think. You're really intelligent, and reasonable, and a good guy at heart. If they don't see what you're worth, then that's their problem. What, your father is disappointed in you for not being a dragon killer? You became something way better than that. You're not like them because you're _better_" he emphasized. Hiccup was shocked by his words. "Have some self-esteem, man! Maybe you just misunderstood Merida. Maybe she likes you but she doesn't know how to show it. That sounds very much like her if you ask me. Don't lose hope just yet. And, regardless of what she feels for you... Respect yourself some more. I do."

"Wow" Hiccup breathed. "Jack, I, uh... I don't know what to say."

Jack flashed him his lopsided smile. "A 'thank you' may be nice."

"Yeah, right" his friend smiled. "You deserve it this time. Thanks, bud."

"No problem" Jack chuckled and patted his back.

At that moment, Merida was just entering the room she shared with Punzie. She had been sitting by the lake for quite a long time, thinking. And she took a stroll back to the inn to try and clear her mind. Rapunzel was eagerly waiting for her as she laid on the bed, and quickly got up when she heard the door opening. "Oh, Mer!" she chirped, running over to grab the redhead's hands and twirl with her.

"Woah, Punzie!" Merida laughed, letting go of the blonde's hands to lock the door behind her. "Ah suppose somethin' good happened tonecht?"

Rapunzel eagerly nodded and motioned for her to sit down on the bed beside her. Merida obliged and listened closely to Rapunzel's narration of the night's events among lanterns. A huge smile spread across the redhead's face when she heard the word 'kiss'.

"Aw, sae ye _did_ kiss! Tell me _all_ about it!"

"I..." Rapunzel sighed, blushing. "I don't know how to explain it, Mer. It simply felt... amazing. It happened so naturally... everything was just right. I don't know what to say."

"Awww" Merida hugged the blonde. "Aam sae glad fur ye, Ah really am..."

"Thank you" Rapunzel smiled, hugging her back. "And what about you and Hiccup?" she asked when they let go of each other. "What did you two do?"

"We..." Merida sighed, her eyes sad. "Ah don't know, Punzie. We waur stargazin' an' he was tellin' me about th' constellations an' 'en th' lanterns went up an' we talked, but Ah said somethin' about us bein' friends an'..." she started tearing up. "Ah screwed up!"

"What?" Rapunzel asked in surprise. "Why do you say that!?"

"Ah messed it all up!" Merida buried her face in her hands. "Och, why am Ah sae useless?"

"Oh, no, Mer" the blonde tried to reassure her. "It's alright. Just calm down and tell me how it happened, okay?"

Merida reffered to her how the conversation went and how it all went into a huge misunderstanding because of her. "Ah didnae even realize Ah liked him until th' word 'friend' came outta mah mouth an' Ah regretted it" she groaned. "Why dae Ah always speak without thinkin'?"

Rapunzel stood thoughtful for a moment. "I think he just misunderstood your feelings. You didn't really give him a hint that you liked him... I think you just ought to be sincere about it."

"Nae!" Merida exclaimed, her cheeks blushing slightly. "Ah cannae dae 'at!"

"Why not?"

"Ah... it's jest... Aam nae good at talkin' about mah feelings" she explained, running a hand through her tangled red hair.

"No one's actually good at that" Rapunzel replied with a smile. "But you could give it a try."

"Maybe..." Merida sighed, playing with one of her red curls. "Ah jest don't know. Maybe he doesnae even like me in th' first place."

"No, don't think about that" the blonde protested. "Let's just go to bed now. Sleep on it. And you can decide tomorrow" she patted the redhead's back to reassure her, and she nodded.

"Okay. Guess yoo're rite" she sighed as she laid on her back over the bed. "Thanks, Punzie."

"No, not at all" the blonde smiled. Even though she didn't need to sleep, she laid over her bed and closed her eyes. She wanted to try and have nice dreams, and besides, she had to find some way of entertaining herself until morning.

Jack sighed and decided to get some hours of sleep as well. Not like they had anything better to do until morning. I mean, they could have smooched a little bit more and stuff of the sort, but what happened among the lanterns still needed to settle in. And so, the four of them slept. Not so soundly.

Merida, Jack and Hiccup were back to having strange, terrible nightmares. Merida woke up with a gasp, in the middle of crumpled bed sheets, with her back soaked in cold sweat. A few moments passed until she realized she was safe at the inn. She trembled for a while, trying to calm down her ragged breathing. She was terrified and she didn't even remember what she'd dreamed. That was just marvelous. She sighed and glanced at the bed beside her, expecting to find Rapunzel perfectly asleep (nothing ever seemed to be able to disturb that girl's sleep, really), but she found nothing of the sort. The bed was empty. Merida shrugged and laid back on her bed, ready to get back to sleep, when the realization hit her.

_Wait. _The bed was _empty_.

But that made no sense. Where in hell could Rapunzel ever be at that time of the night? She quickly got up and hurried downstairs. "_She might just be getting herself some water_" Merida thought, her heart loudly thumping in her ears and chest. "_Let's not get dramatic. She's probably just there in the dining room. Or maybe she needed to go to the restroom. Yeah._"

"Punzie?" Merida peeked her head in the dining room downstairs, but there was not a soul there. The redhead went to the bathroom in the back and opened all doors, calling for the blonde one. "Rapunzel?" her voice was starting to rise. "Punzie, thes isnae funny!"

Her hands pulled her hair out of her face in anxiety. She finally remembered what the nightmare was about. And it was _no good_. She hurried upstairs and knocked various times on Jack and Hiccup's door. She waited for a few seconds, nervously fidgeting. No response. "Och!" she grunted and thumped the door with her fist. A just-gotten-outta-bed Jack opened the door, yawning and scratching the back of his head. "Merida?" he asked, blinking in confusion. "What the...?"

"Is Punzie haur?" she asked, not even letting him finish. She peeked over her shoulder, but the only other person in the room was Hiccup, rubbing the sleep off his eyes.

"Why would she be here?" Jack groaned. "Do you have any idea what time it is, Meri?"

"Dae ye have any idea what thes means, Jack!?" Merida grabbed him by the shoulders and furiously shook him. "Punzie is NOT haur! Ah don't know whaur she is!"

"What?" Jack blabbered, his eyes opening widely. "Merida, if this is a joke, I..."

"She's serious, Jack" Hiccup intervened, suddenly wide awake. "I'll go get Toothless."

"Aam goin' wi' ye!" Merida exclaimed, and quickly followed him.

Jack ran his hands through his hair, gasping. Merida's words had been like a kick in the stomach, sucking the air out of him. He shook his head and ran downstairs, and once outside, he commanded the wind to fly him all over the city.

The three of them flew over Corona and the forests surrounding it. They checked all the land in a good radius from the city, but there was no trace of the blonde girl anywhere. When they were done searching, it was already dawn. "Damn it!" Jack yelled, punching a tree in utter frustration. "Where is she!? She can't have just vanished!"

"We cannae give up!" Merida begged, incredibly worried. "We have tae fin' her!"

"Okay, okay, everyone just calm down!" Hiccup tried to reassure them, but it was no use. Jack glared at him.

"How am I supposed to calm down!?" he yelled. "She can't have gone off walking all by herself! We would've already found her if she did! _Something_ must have happened to her!" he buried his face in his hands. "I can't be calm. I can't ever be calm if I don't..."

"Jack!" a familiar voice called, and then, there was a huge impact. Toothless let out a surprised growl, and the three teenagers had to jump backwards when the giant sleigh crashed on the ground right before their eyes. Their faces accurately showed their astonishment as North and Tooth emerged from the dust the crash had lifted, both of them coughing. But they were not the same Guardians they remembered.

Toothiana's colourful feathers had lost their natural shine. Her wings seemed weary and she seemed to be in pain and shame. Jack only noticed something was truly wrong when he realized she was walking. Not flying. Walking. Her wings couldn't move.

North didn't look any better. He looked... _old_. He had to rest over a cane to be able to walk, and his back seemed to be hurting, judging by the way he held it with his free hand.

"North? Tooth?" Jack asked, staring at them in disbelief. "What... what happened to you? Where are Bunny and Sandy?"

"Bunny is..." North's voice was weary and trembling. "Over there" he weakly pointed at the sleigh, and a small, cute bunny emerged from its back. Bunnymund had his ears down in shame and sadness.

"You can laugh" he said, but the depression in his voice was no laughing matter. Jack, Merida and Hiccup were absolutely shocked.

"As for Sandy..." North went on. "He's... I'm afraid he's... no longer with us."

"What!?" Jack exclaimed as Hiccup and Merida gasped.

"It was Pitch" Tooth explained, sadly. "He attacked us. He... he kidnapped my fairies and stole my teeth. And then... then he destroyed Bunny's eggs."

"Do you mean...?" Jack feared the worst.

"There was no Easter" Bunny bitterly replied. "Tooth cannot collect the children's teeth, either. They..." he turned his eyes away from Jack in pain. "They have stopped believing."

Merida gasped. Hiccup and Jack didn't know what to say. The sight of the weary, depressed Guardians was too awful to describe. They had been the children's hopes, dreams, wonders... and now, they were reduced to almost nothing. Their power had incredibly decreased.

"If we are not believed in..." Tooth began.

"... we are no longer needed" North finished, an unbelievable sadness in his voice. "We have come to seek your help. We need your help."

"W... what can we do?" Hiccup asked, hesitantly.

"Pitch has sent us a message" Tooth explained. "He's the one who... who..."

"He kidnapped your blonde friend" Bunny finished for her. Jack's mouth opened wide when he heard that, and he clenched his staff tightly between his fists.

"Why!?" he snapped. "Why her!?"

"She has incredible power" North explained. "Pitch... he wants to have that power under his control. And use it."

"How!?" Merida intervened, stepping up to confront the Guardians.

"We don't know yet" Toothiana replied. "But what we do know, is that he's taken her to... to a dragon's nest. A little far from the island of Berk."

"The dragon's nest!?" Hiccup jumped when he heard that, and Toothless quickly paid closer attention when he heard that, slightly growling his discomfort. "Why there?"

"Your Vikings are going to attack it, Hiccup" North answered, looking back at the Viking boy. "They want to massacre the dragons once and for all. And with them, there's... a child."

"A child?" Jack frowned. "Who takes a child to a freaking dragon nest?"

"Oh, trust me, Vikings do" Hiccup replied, rolling his eyes.

"That child... he's the last believer" North revealed, his eyes teary. "He's the only hope we have left."

"If he stops believing... we are done for" Bunnymund said, his expression grim. Toothiana started crying, unable to stand the pressure, and North patted her back, trying to calm her down.

"That's it. We are going" Jack growled, turning his back to go.

"We need to get there before something happens to Rapunzel or to my tribe" Hiccup agreed, mounting Toothless and motioning for Merida to come along, which she swiftly did. Toothless accepted her up his back, but he shot a glare at her, a very eloquent one. Merida wondered what did the dragon want from her this time... Maybe he knew about her internal struggle about Hiccup? But, she shook her head, this was no time to worry about stupid romanticisms!

"We are going to search for Pitch's hideout" North said. "So that we can set Tooth's fairies free and recover the teeth. Here, Jack, have this" he gave the winter spirit a portal orb, which he accepted.

"Thanks" Jack passed it on to Hiccup. "Hic, take us to your island."

The Viking nodded and, picturing the image of Berk in his mind, threw the portal ball and broke it, opening up a passage.

"Jack" North called, and the spirit turned to them one last time. "Be careful."

He nodded to that, and followed the two dragon riders through the portal.

_**Yeah, stuff is happening. These chapters are actually coming out longer than the rest. Oh well, I hope you guys like that. Thank you for sticking around and being so nice to this story. Really.**_

_**See you soon.**_


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